Okamura: Communication with President Pavel Has Become Unbearable

Chamber of Deputies Speaker and SPD leader Tomio Okamura has said that the government's communication with President Petr Pavel has for a long time now been "unbearable, improper and unserious." The clash was triggered by the president's veto of a government bill easing budgetary rules — the prime minister, the foreign minister and the president now essentially communicate with each other only through the media.

Okamura said that, as speaker of parliament, he is used to talking with political opponents and sees parliament as a forum for different views — but when it comes to Pavel, he is forced to agree with his coalition colleagues that dialogue with the president has reached a dead end.

As an example, he cited December of last year, when, according to him, Pavel negotiated the transfer of L-159 aircraft — currently in active service with the Czech army — to Ukraine without the government's knowledge, even though by law only the government can decide to retire military equipment from active service. "The president was negotiating behind our backs to weaken Czechia's defence capability, and now he's telling us we need to raise defence spending — without specifying which group of the population should have money taken from it, or whether the budget deficit should be increased," Okamura said.

Asked why he refuses to talk to a president elected by popular vote, with the backing of around 3.4 million voters, Okamura replied that under the constitution the government is responsible for executive power and foreign policy, and no one has the right to demand that the cabinet take part in Pavel's election campaign, which, in his view, the president is already running as an opposition leader.

The exchange grew heated when Okamura called the president a "clown" and recalled the pre-election debates ahead of the presidential vote, when Pavel, asked whether he would appoint Okamura education minister, said he would not, because Okamura represented "a moral threat to young people." "I have not a single moral offence to my name — I have never stolen anything and I don't take subsidies," the politician protested, adding that the president never apologised.

Asked about a possible joint candidate from ANO, SPD and the Motorists against Pavel in the future presidential election, Okamura said that discussion would begin only after the Senate and municipal elections — the parties have so far failed to agree on joint Senate candidates despite several rounds of talks. According to him, SPD will field its own candidates in 24 of the 27 Senate districts and submit 250 lists for the municipal elections.

Okamura also spoke about a recent visit to China, during which he raised the case of a Czech citizen detained there on suspicion of espionage. He said the Chinese side responded by bringing up the detention of a Chinese citizen in Czechia, and both sides agreed not to comment on the matter in detail in the media, in order to leave room for negotiations.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz