BRNO/PRAHA – The Constitutional Court has received a jurisdictional lawsuit filed by President Petr Pavel concerning a dispute over the participation of the Czech delegation at the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Ankara. The Court confirmed that it is aware of the urgency of the matter and will decide on a priority hearing at a plenary session composed of all fifteen constitutional judges. President Petr Pavel turned to the Constitutional Court after the government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš decided that the Czech delegation at the July NATO summit would be led by the Prime Minister together with the Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs, without counting on the participation of the head of state.

According to the President, representing the Czech Republic abroad constitutes one of the fundamental constitutional powers of the head of state. Pavel repeatedly stated that the government's decision effectively prevents him from exercising this power and therefore requested the Constitutional Court to interpret the competencies between the President and the government. Conversely, the government argues that the NATO summit will focus primarily on defense spending and security policy, for which the cabinet bears political responsibility. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš described the filing of the jurisdictional lawsuit as unnecessary and insists that foreign policy must be actively managed by the government enjoying the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies.

Recap of the dispute between Pavel and Babiš

The dispute between President Petr Pavel and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš began to intensify in the spring of this year. The President then announced his intention to lead the Czech delegation to the NATO summit in Ankara, citing past constitutional practices where both presidents and prime ministers participated in high-level alliance negotiations. However, Prime Minister Babiš pushed from the outset for the Czech Republic to be represented exclusively by the government. This was followed by a series of negotiations between the Prague Castle and the Government Office, which failed to produce a compromise. The government ultimately approved the composition of the delegation without the President's participation, thereby opening the way for the first-ever jurisdictional lawsuit by the President against the government regarding the state's foreign representation.

The Constitutional Court can now decide in several ways. It may confirm that the President has the right to participate in such international negotiations without the government's consent, thereby strengthening the position of the head of state in foreign policy. The second option is to confirm the government's stance that the cabinet decides on the composition of the delegation. The third possibility is a compromise interpretation that more precisely defines the shared competencies of both constitutional institutions in the future. Experts warn that regardless of the outcome, the court's decision could significantly impact the functioning of the Czech constitutional system in the coming years.

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