“The minister evidently did not understand again the division of roles and functions in this state. It is necessary to clearly state that if the president is in any delegation, he is automatically the head of that delegation,” the president said about Minister Macink on Thursday to Czech Television and Czech Radio.
“The president will decide whether he will participate in any part of the summit, i.e. the informal dinner or the main meeting. Not the government, not the foreign minister,” added Pavel.
A day earlier, Foreign Minister Macinka declared: “The head of the delegation will be the Prime Minister, he even has a personal invitation to events. There will be events for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for the Minister of Defense, and there will certainly be some program for the rest of the delegation.”
On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court decided that the government must ensure Pavel’s trip to the North Atlantic Alliance summit. Macinka responded that he would do so, but that the president would not participate in the informal dinner, because Babiš had already received the invitation.
“He will definitely not be at the informal dinner. It would be a real shame if we tried to request that the invitation be changed,” said Macinka about Pavlov. “We cannot imagine any other arrangement than the president as the highest constitutional official at the head of the delegation,” Castle spokesman Vít Kolář told Novinkám.
Further details of the NATO summit are to be resolved at Monday’s government meeting. At the previous meeting, the cabinet decided that Pavel would not be part of the delegation to the alliance meeting, where, among other things, member states’ defense spending would be discussed.
Pavel subsequently filed a jurisdictional lawsuit with the Constitutional Court, because according to the Castle, the government cannot restrict the president in his constitutional rights and duties when he represents the state externally according to the Constitution.
The court has not yet decided on the lawsuit, but it has issued a preliminary measure so that the government can ensure Pavlo’s trip to the summit. The prime minister called it an “unusually quick” decision, the foreign minister even called it a “constitutional coup”.
Even against the words about the coup, the president defined himself. “Very strong words from a person who is part of the government. They are on the verge of spreading alarmist news, and I think that every politician who has even a little responsibility towards his country and its reputation abroad should value such words very much,” said Pavel.
