A Czech court has ruled that the country's president Petr Pavel may represent the Czech Republic at the NATO summit in Ankara in early July after all.
In an interim order, the Constitutional Court in Brno ruled that the government must allow the 64-year-old former NATO general to attend the defence alliance's meeting.
Pavel, who is regarded as a liberal, had appealed to the highest court because the government, led by right-wing populist Prime Minister and billionaire Andrej Babiš, had denied his request to be sent.
Instead, only Babiš himself, along with the Foreign and Defence Ministers, Petr Mačinka and Jaromír Zuna, were to travel to the summit on July 7 and 8.
A court spokeswoman stated that the judges had taken into account in their decision the fact that Pavel's predecessors had also regularly been part of the delegation to NATO summits.
The final ruling on the dispute over jurisdiction between the head of state and the government is expected within several months. The Czech Republic has been a member of NATO since 1999.
Foreign minister speaks of an "attempted coup"
Babiš announced that he intended to respect the Constitutional Court's "unusually swift decision". Foreign minister Mačinka, however, spoke of an "attempted constitutional coup."
The politician from the right-wing Motorists' Party accused the president of having "stirred up society to no end".
Mačinka has been at loggerheads with Pavel ever since the latter denied the appointment of former racing driver and Motorists' Party honorary chairman Filip Turek as environment minister.
Pavel has long been calling for higher defence spending, but Babiš remains sceptical on this issue.
He only recently admitted that the Czech Republic would once again fail to meet the NATO target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defence this year. "First we must get public finances in order," the premier stressed.
