Babiš: I'll never fly with President Pavel in a delegation again

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has declared that he no longer intends to take part in foreign delegations alongside President Petr Pavel. His sharp statement came in the wake of a dispute over the make-up of the Czech delegation to the NATO summit in Ankara, which the president only managed to join thanks to a ruling by the Constitutional Court.

"This has taught me a big lesson: I will never again be in a delegation with the president. I only ended up in this one because the Constitutional Court decided it should be that way," Babiš said when asked who would represent the Czech Republic at the next NATO summit.

Back on 29 June, after a cabinet meeting, the prime minister had already been urging the president to skip the trip to Ankara altogether. "It would be best if the president didn't insist on taking part. I think we're perfectly ready to announce right now that next year it will be the president who represents the Czech Republic at the NATO summit," Babiš said at the time.

The prime minister has now confirmed that this offer still stands. Asked directly whether it bothered him that the head of state would lead the Czech delegation at the alliance's next meeting, Babiš replied curtly: "I have no problem with that whatsoever."

As for the current summit in Ankara, the government had originally decided that the delegation would consist of Prime Minister Babiš himself, Foreign Minister Petr Macinka (Motorists party) and Defence Minister Jaroslav Zuna (nominated by SPD) — but not President Petr Pavel. This marked a break from long-standing tradition, under which the president had usually headed the Czech delegation at NATO summits.

In response, the president filed a competence lawsuit, and the Constitutional Court issued a preliminary ruling obliging the government to allow him to travel. In the end, Babiš remained head of the delegation, but Pavel joined it too — although the two flew on separate planes.

The row between Prague Castle and the cabinet did not die down after the delegation returned from the summit. Babiš publicly criticised President Pavel's remarks that in Ankara he had supposedly got the impression that "Western countries are losing us." "He can't be serious — our relations with Western countries are, on the contrary, at an exceptionally high level. Even a blind man could see that," the prime minister wrote on social media.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz