Czech President Petr Pavel has filed a complaint against the government's decision to exclude him from the Czech delegation for next month's NATO summit in Ankara. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
The move comes after Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said yesterday that the decision to exclude the president was "purely practical," as he dismissed "an unnecessary" dispute with the president.
The pair is at loggerheads over Czechia's defence policy and spending commitments, with the government currently spending less than 2% GDP on defence, way below NATO's targets, and other political issues.
In a formal response to the government's decision this morning, Pavel said it was an "unprecedented and extremely unfortunate step," and a dangerous break from the past convention that saw Czechia represented at NATO summits by the country's president.
He said that when he attended three NATO summits in the past, he always followed the government's position, and he would do the same this year.
But "months of public bickering about who will fly where have been seen as an inability of the highest state officials to reach an agreement among themselves," and "at a time when NATO is dealing with the greatest security threats in the alliance's history, I consider this an irresponsible approach to our citizens and our allies."
Pavel said that he repeatedly put forward compromise proposals that would see him attend the informal part of the summit – a policy discussion – while leaving the budget talks to the government. But he said he received no response or counterproposal from Babiš.
"It is my duty not only to exercise the powers of the President to the fullest extent, but also to defend them. Not for my own sake. But for the sake of all the presidents who will come after me," he said.
The complaint has now been received by the Constitutional Court, and it will consider how to progress the case tomorrow.