Czech President Petr Pavel should next week to file an explanation with the police regarding the text messages sent to his advisor by the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Environment, Petr Macinka. Based on their content, the president accused of attempted blackmail.
In an interview with the radio station Radiožurnál on Friday, he also stated that the conflict regarding his decision not to appoint the nominee of the Motoristi sebe party, Filip Turk, as minister it is not about disrespecting the election results, but about the qualities of the candidatewrites a TASR correspondent in Prague.
When Pavel published the messages that Macinka sent to his advisor last week, he announced that filed a complaint with the police to investigate the matter. In addition, he commissioned legal analyzes to assess whether extortion was indeed involved. They don’t have the result yet. “I suppose sometime next week, if I’m not mistaken, I should go and file an explanation with the Police of the Czech Republic,” he announced in the interview.
Some lawyers believe that the matter will not be qualified as a crime of extortion because the messages contained no threat of violence, but only vague threats. “Of course, someone can say that blackmail is always associated with something threat of physical violence. But despite the fact that the law does not distinguish between blackmail and political blackmail, I saw the signs of political blackmail,” the president responded.
Among other things, Macinka wrote in the news that he faces an irreversible decision“what’s next with the president”. If Pavel appointed a Turk as a minister, he would have peace of mind. If he does not enter into any negotiations in this matter, Macinka wrote that he was ready to “brutally” fight for the Turk, while the consequences surprise Pavel. He also added that it would burn bridges in such a way that it would go down in political science textbooks as “an extreme case of cohabitation.”
In the interview on Friday, the President pointed out that he never considered the whole matter regarding the non-appointment of Turk as a minister as a dispute with Macink. He wrote in the news that he is taking the whole thing personally. “I took it and still take it as a matter of principle that a person who should be a minister, and thus a representative of our country and citizens, should not have the same profile as the candidate proposed by the Motoristas“, Pavel explained his position.
He emphasized that from his side it’s not a lack of respect to the results of the elections or to the opinion of the Chamber of Deputies, as the Motorists claim, but it is only about the qualities of the given candidate. “If they put forward another candidate, I don’t have the slightest problem appointing him if he doesn’t show the same traits as Filip Turek,” he added.
In mid-January, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling on the President to to appoint proposed ministers without unnecessary delay and assessment of suitability. Based on this, Macinka repeatedly argued that Pavel not only does not respect the constitution, but also the lower house of the parliament.
