Czech President Petr Pavel filed a jurisdictional lawsuit at the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic against the move of the Czech government, which decided that the head of state would not be a member of the official delegation at the NATO summit in Turkey in July.
In response to the government’s decision on Monday that he will not be a member of the Czech delegation at the July summit of the North Atlantic Alliance in Ankara, Czech President Petr Pavel filed a jurisdictional lawsuit at the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. The court confirmed this on its website on Tuesday, stating that the plenary session will decide whether to deal with the case as a matter of priority, reports TASR reporter in Prague.
- Czech President Petr Pavel filed a jurisdictional lawsuit with the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic.
- The reason for the lawsuit is the exclusion of the president from the delegation at the NATO summit.
- Petr Pavel describes the exclusion from the delegation as an unprecedented and extremely unfortunate step.
- Pavel wants the government not to prevent the exercise of his constitutional powers.
Pavel: Representing the state externally is my job description
“Yesterday (6/22), the Constitutional Court received a proposal from the President of the Republic to start proceedings in the dispute over the scope of competences via data box yesterday evening… The case will now be subject to standard procedural actions, the filing will be assigned a file mark and a reporting judge in accordance with the work schedule. The plenary session of the Constitutional Court will decide on the proposal for priority hearing,” said the spokeswoman of the ÚS CR, Miroslava Číhalíková Sedláčková.
Shortly afterwards, the president also confirmed the submission. He considers the decision to exclude him from the delegation an unprecedented and extremely unfortunate step. “Representing the state externally is the power of the president according to Article 63 of the Constitution of the Czech Republic. It is basically a description of his job. Excluding the president from exercising this power means limiting his role, which is given to him by the Constitution, not a government resolution,” he wrote on social networks.
Pavel accuses the government of incompetence
According to Pavle, the months of public arguing with the government about who will fly where sound outwardly like the inability of the highest representatives of the state to come to an agreement among themselves. “At a time when NATO is dealing with the biggest security threats since the existence of the Alliance, I consider this an irresponsible approach to our citizens and our allies. This must end,” the Czech president pointed out.
In the lawsuit, the ÚS asked to declare who can decide on the president’s participation in the summit, to order the government not to create administrative or other obstacles for the president in the exercise of his constitutional powers, and to establish an obligation to cooperate with the president. He added that he will respect the court’s decision, whatever it may be.
