Constitutional Court sides with Czech president in NATO delegation dispute

The Czech Constitutional Court has ordered the government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to include President Petr Pavel in the country's official delegation to the NATO summit in Ankara next month, following a legal challenge filed by the head of state.

The preliminary ruling came in response to a lawsuit submitted by Pavel on June 23 after the government excluded him from the official delegation, breaking with the longstanding practice of Czech presidents leading the country's delegations to NATO summits, Radio Prague International reports.

In its decision, the Constitutional Court noted that presidential participation in NATO summits had become an established constitutional practice and instructed the government "to notify the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation" that "the president of the republic is also part of the official delegation" to the July 7-8 summit in Ankara.

While the court has yet to issue its full ruling, it adopted the preliminary measure ahead of the June 26 accreditation deadline for the summit. The court said it expected the government to comply with the order.

"The decisions have always been respected, I am not expecting it should be otherwise," Constitutional Court Chairman Josef Baxa told Czech Television.

The ruling triggered strong reactions from members of the governing coalition. Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, who also leads the anti-green and Eurosceptic Motorists for Themselves party, described the court's intervention as "a constitutional putsch attempt."

Babiš said he would respect the decision, writing on X: "I respect the unusually swift decision of the Constitutional Court." However, he also shared a statement by fellow ANO party member Radek Vondráček, who characterized Pavel's lawsuit as "absurd."

Opposition politicians argued that the court's ruling must be respected. Martin Kupka, leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), said the government's delays in determining the composition of the delegation were "part of the strategy to prevent the president from taking part in the NATO summit."

The dispute marks the latest chapter in a series of confrontations between President Pavel and the government led by Babiš's ANO party. Previous disagreements have included Pavel's refusal to appoint controversial Motorists politician Filip Turek as environment minister and his criticism of the government's failure to meet NATO's target of spending 2% of GDP on defence.

Earlier this year, Pavel also accused Foreign Minister Macinka of attempting to pressure him into reversing his decision not to appoint Turek after a scandal involving the politician's alleged racist, sexist and homophobic online comments.

By Vafa Guliyeva