Babis Rejects Meeting with Czech President over NATO Summit

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis sees no reason to meet President Petr Pavel over the NATO summit in Ankara, iRozhlas.cz reported. In a letter to Pavel, Babis wrote that the government had fulfilled everything ordered by the Czech Constitutional Court in a preliminary injunction.

Pavel had previously said that he had repeatedly offered Babis a personal meeting, but that the prime minister had refused, arguing that everything had already been decided.

After months of dispute, the government initially did not include the president in the delegation to the summit, but Pavel secured his attendance through legal action.

Babis said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not preventing the president from attending the summit and would fully provide for his needs within the unified delegation led by the prime minister.

Since this is his cabinet’s first NATO summit, Babis said it was essential for the government to present its security policy in person, for which it is constitutionally responsible.

He also noted that the summit would address aid for Ukraine, an issue on which the president was likely to hold a different position.

The prime minister again called on Pavel to reconsider his attendance and to show magnanimity toward a country whose reputation was being damaged by the dispute. He offered to let the president lead the delegation at next year’s NATO summit in Tirana.

Pavel, however, has rejected the call, saying attendance is his constitutional and professional duty. He also considers the government’s approach to be contrary to the Constitutional Court’s preliminary injunction and established practice, under which the head of state traditionally represents the country at such summits.

(max)