On Wednesday 7 January 2026, Czech President Petr Pavel and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš met for the traditional New Year's lunch at Prague Castle. According to both sides, the meeting focused on key topics of domestic, foreign and security policy and on setting up further cooperation and coordination between the top constitutional officials.
One of the main items on the domestic agenda was the nomination of the Motorists' MP Filip Turek for the post of government minister in charge of the environment ministry. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš formally presented the nomination to the President at the lunch, but it also became clear that President Petr Pavel is not changing his position and is rejecting the appointment of Filip Turek as a member of the Government. According to the Prime Minister, the President said that he would communicate his position to the Prime Minister in writing.
„Although I spent an hour trying to convince the President to be above the fray and do the right thing and give Mr. Turk a chance, the President refused and does not want to nominate Mr. Turk,“ Andrej Babiš told journalists after the meeting. He added that he would discuss the next steps with Motorists chairman Petr Macinka and did not rule out a possible meeting between Macinka and President Pavel.
During the lunch, the President was also interested in the upcoming legislative changes submitted by the new coalition, in particular the Construction Act and the Service Act. Another topic was the impact of the upcoming political salary freeze, specifically the possible disproportion in the remuneration of constitutional officials that this move could bring.
Foreign and security policy took up a significant part of the meeting. The President raised the issue of the government's position on Russian aggression in Ukraine in connection with public statements by the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Tomio Okamura. He stressed the need to harmonise public statements in a way that corresponds to the Czech Republic's foreign policy priorities and its commitments to its partners and allies. The prime minister said that the president may discuss these words with Okamura at an upcoming meeting of constitutional officials.
The President and the Prime Minister also agreed on closer coordination and mutual information in the field of foreign and security policy, including the coordination of foreign trips. Paul set the first date for the meeting of the top constitutional officials for January 26.
The discussion also touched on current issues of world politics, particularly the situation in Ukraine, events in Venezuela and the impact of US foreign policy on international security. The President also said that he thought it would be right for the Czech Republic to join the joint statement of European states on Greenland, which he briefed the Prime Minister on at the lunch.
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