The Czech government said on Monday it would not include President Petr Pavel, a former top NATO official, in the Czech delegation to the alliance's summit next month, breaking tradition and sparking a legal battle with the head of state, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis, leader of the populist Action of Dissatisfied Citizens party (known by its Czech acronym ANO), which lost the 2023 presidential election to Pavel, said it was the government's duty to defend its positions, including low defense spending.
"This is a very specific summit," Babis told a news conference. "It probably won't be very pleasant for our country, but we have a responsibility to stand our ground."
According to the Czech constitution, presidents have limited powers, and foreign policy is determined by the government. But since the country joined NATO in 1999, presidents have almost always led Czech delegations to NATO summits, sometimes alongside prime ministers, Reuters notes.
Peter Pavel is a career military man, a general who led the Czech army and also served as chairman of NATO’s Military Committee from 2015 to 2018. He has insisted on attending the summit on July 7-8 in the Turkish capital Ankara.
The president has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its defense against Russia, while Babis’s government has reduced support for the Czech Republic.
Pavel was expected to comment on the delegation issue on Tuesday, his office said. He recently said he would view the rejection of his attendance at the summit as an attempt to limit his powers to represent the country abroad and would take the matter to the Constitutional Court.
Pavel has been in conflict with the government, mainly with the small Eurosceptic Motorist Party, since it refused to appoint one of its representatives as foreign minister, Reuters recalls.
The Czechs are among the last in NATO in terms of defense spending, having failed to reach the minimum 2% of gross domestic product last year.
Babiš's new government has reduced the defense budget from initially proposed levels, meaning it will not reach the NATO minimum level this year either. The prime minister said the minimum level should be achieved by 2027.
NATO allies have agreed to increase annual core defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, plus an additional 1.5% for other defense-related programs.