(Adnkronos) – Czech President Petr Pavel has filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court against the government led by right-wing populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis, after being excluded from the official delegation that will participate in the NATO summit in Ankara scheduled for July 7-8. The Court – Politico writes – is expected to examine the case in tomorrow’s plenary session.
The appeal for “conflict of competence” seeks to clarify who has the authority to decide the participation of the Head of State in Atlantic Alliance summits. Pavel accused Babis of wanting to “exclude” him from the summit, emphasizing that this “limits the role guaranteed to him by the Constitution.” The president recalled that all his predecessors have always participated in NATO summits and that he himself has taken part in all alliance meetings since his inauguration in 2023.
The prime minister justified his decision by stating that “this summit will be different from previous ones,” and defended the choice to reduce military spending to 1.8% of GDP, below the 2% threshold required by NATO. While declaring to “respect” the president’s decision to appeal to constitutional justice, he added that he does not believe it “is a good idea” and that “it is not appropriate for high-ranking officials to sue each other.” Pavel later clarified that the matter does not concern “a single seat at an international meeting,” but the defense of the separation of powers.
