Former Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda criticizes the actions of the Constitutional Court. According to him, the government was not given the opportunity to express its opinion.

PRAGUE – The dispute over President Petr Pavel's participation in the NATO summit in Ankara in July continues to provoke strong political reactions. The former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Civil Liberties Movement has now criticized the actions of the Constitutional Court, pointing in a published video to alleged procedural errors in the issuance of a preliminary injunction. According to him, the government of the Czech Republic, as a key participant in the proceedings, was not heard before the court's decision.

Last week, the Constitutional Court issued a preliminary injunction ordering the government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure President Petr Pavel's participation in the NATO summit in Ankara. The decision came in response to a constitutional complaint filed by the head of state after the government under Prime Minister Andrej Babiš decided that the president would not be part of the Czech delegation.

However, the former head of Czech diplomacy from the Civil Liberties Movement pointed out possible procedural shortcomings in his video. According to him, not all standard procedural steps were followed in the issuance of the preliminary injunction. "I believe that the Constitutional Court did not follow the basic procedural steps because the government of the Czech Republic, which received the enforcement of the preliminary injunction, was not heard as a key party, i.e., a direct participant in the process, before the decision was issued," said the former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the published video.

The decision of the Constitutional Court has sparked a broad debate not only about the president's participation in the alliance summit itself, but also about the scope of the powers of the head of state and the government in the field of foreign policy. President Petr Pavel described the government's decision to exclude him from the delegation as an "unprecedented and extremely unfortunate step" and turned to the Constitutional Court with a constitutional complaint.

The Constitutional Court justified the issuance of the preliminary injunction primarily by the time urgency of the entire matter. According to the judges, the president's participation in NATO summits has long been an established constitutional practice that needed to be maintained until a final decision was made in the matter. The court will only make a decision on the constitutional complaint and define the powers between the president and the government.

The dispute between President Petr Pavel and the government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš remains one of the most significant constitutional and political conflicts of recent years, and its final resolution may have a fundamental impact on the future shape of the Czech Republic's foreign policy.