Highly Visible Filip Turek: Not Even a Morally Outraged Czech President Can Push Him Out of Politics

Honorary chairman of the Czech party Motorists for Themselves, Filip Turek. Photo: FB

The Czech Republic has a new government. Babiš managed to put it together, though it wasn’t easy.

Perhaps the most heated debates have centered on Filip Turek of the Motorists for Themselves party.

Initially, he was supposed to take the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs, which sparked outrage, so it was proposed that he become Minister of the Environment instead.

However, President Pavel refused to appoint the honorary chairman of the Motorists, Filip Turek, even as Minister of the Environment. According to him, this person should not be a member of the government at all.

Andrej Babiš’s attempts to convince the president to give Turek a chance to become a minister and work through his past and controversial statements were in vain.

As a result, Filip Turek became the government’s envoy for climate policy and the Green Deal. He will have an office at the Ministry of the Environment like a minister and could be an influential figure, as the government defines the role, responsibilities, and powers of the envoy. Someone has already called him a hybrid member of the government.

The Green Party, however, is completely alarmed and posted a brief reaction on Facebook: “Triple facepalm. Climate anxiety. Want to pinch myself to see if this isn’t a nightmare.”

In this narrative, Filip Turek is portrayed as a victim of a stubborn president.

President Pavel, on the other hand, may feel like a moral victor for having prevented a “disaster.”

Prague’s salons applaud him.

But the president’s stubbornness hasn’t impressed everyone. Echo’s editor-in-chief Dalibor Balšínek wrote that even political commentators sympathetic to the president have stopped understanding him in this matter, ultimately acknowledging that Filip Turek should have been appointed to the alternative role, i.e., as Minister of the Environment.

According to Balšínek, the president could have done so with a strong warning that Turek lacked sufficient competence and political skill for a ministerial post. This could have been proven in practice.

Instead, the president halted his political career because, as Balšínek writes: “Filip Turek became a symbol of evil for him, and he desires his scalp, headlong, without deeper consideration, perhaps out of stubbornness, but certainly without a deeper political strategy.”

Filip Turek seems to have accepted his new position and celebrated it stylishly at a restaurant with Uzbek MMA fighter Makhmud Muradov, who has been linked to the Balkan mafia, as well as with a person known for antisemitic views.

However, the Motorists’ voters feel offended and humiliated by the president’s action.

In this, Petr Pavel could have also learned from Slovak politics and from Zuzana Čaputová, with whom he had good relations.

A high-ranking position can even influence a strong-willed person like Huliak.

Recall that in October 2023, the Slovak president refused to appoint Rudolf Huliak as Minister of the Environment because “through his statements, he undermines the long-standing environmental policy of the state and the international commitments to which Slovakia is bound.”

She also reproached him for “publicly endorsing violent reprisals against ideological opponents, particularly from the ranks of environmental and nature defenders.”

Future Prime Minister Fico was angry that the president was delaying the appointment of a new government, claiming Huliak was just a pretext, and that her actions had no basis in the Constitution of the Slovak Republic.

Eventually, Tomáš Taraba became Minister of the Environment. He had entered parliament in 2020 on the Kotleba party’s ticket. It wasn’t a great moral victory, but the president could at least feel that Huliak was sidelined.

However, Rudolf Huliak is politically shrewder than he appears. He exploited various coalition disputes and carved out a new ministry for himself, even if it was somewhat nominal.

It’s questionable whether Tomáš Taraba is a better Minister of the Environment than Huliak would have been.

But he knows how to use it effectively for marketing, opening new sports facilities in villages and neighborhoods and promoting domestic tourism, which is funded by the state.

A high-ranking position can temper even a tough personality like Huliak. He now watches his language and is no longer seen in hunting vests.

Minister Taraba is more experienced and confident in business matters, which allows him to tackle projects like the Málinec-Látky hydroelectric plant or the major overhaul of turbines at the Gabčíkovo Hydropower Plant. He enjoys playing with big and expensive projects.

Rudolf Huliak, as Minister of the Environment, might have focused mainly on the bears. It’s unclear which would have been better in this situation.

Another notable point: the Ministry of the Environment used to be an unappealing post that parties rarely contested, attractive only to parties with a strong ecological program.

Today, right-wing parties are fighting for it.

Filip Turek will therefore be highly visible in any role, even if his only task at the ministry is sweeping the floors.

Turek himself stated that he wants to be Minister of the Environment so that “the Green Deal in this republic recedes, does not destroy industry, energy, or competitiveness, and does not restrict or impoverish our population.”

Turek will continue to be a very visible man, partly due to his appearance.

Poetically, Jiří Peňás wrote about him: “A person is both a victim and a beneficiary of their appearance. They are its creator and prisoner, whether they use it or are used by it. An inconspicuous person usually behaves inconspicuously; a striking-looking person behaves, well, strikingly. Mr. Turek looked, even before entering active politics, as if he was destined to appear in it. His physique necessarily led him to a certain type of behavior, for which he might not even have been responsible. It would have been against the nature of his appearance if he had been modest and shy, indistinguishable from everyone else. He was essentially in the position of a supermodel, expected to walk in a swimsuit at first, while wanting to discuss national economics.”

Filip Turek told his supporters on Facebook that it’s no longer just about the Green Deal; he also wants to ensure that parliamentary democracy continues to function in the Czech Republic, rather than a presidential system.

And with this agenda, he could also achieve considerable success.

Source: Postoj.sk