Pavel continues to refuse to appoint Turek as minister: According to Babiš, he should have been given a chance, but he is not considering a competency lawsuit

President Petr Pavel refuses to appoint Motorists' MP Filip Turk as Minister of the Environment. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) announced this after Wednesday's New Year's lunch with the head of state at Prague Castle. He submitted Turek's nomination for a government member to the president in agreement with Motorists. Pavel will then send a written response to the prime minister.

Babiš is not considering filing a lawsuit against the president for not appointing Turek as a minister. However, he believes that Turek could have been given a chance, and he tried to convince Pavla of this.

In December, after Pavel's meeting with Turek, Hrad stated that the head of state assumed that Babiš would not nominate Turek as a minister. Hrad's statement also implied that if the prime minister did so, the president would not appoint Turek, although he considers it an extraordinary step. According to Babiš, the president will now comment on the matter in writing.

"Even though I tried for an hour to convince the President to get over it and do a good deed and give Mr. Turek a chance, the President refused and does not want to nominate Mr. Turek. He said he would comment on it in writing," said Babiš.

The Prime Minister will discuss the matter with the Chairman of the Motorists, Petr Macinka, and according to him, Macinka and Pavel may also meet.

The Turek faces criticism, among other things, for racist and homophobic posts on social media. He apologized for the statements, denying authorship of some.

Controversy also arose over his asset declaration and information that he threatened employees of the Saudi Arabian embassy eight years ago. The head of the Ministry of Environment is temporarily appointed as the head of the Motorists and Minister of Foreign Affairs Macinka.

A brief introduction to Okamura

Pavel and Babiš only briefly discussed the strongly anti-Ukrainian New Year's speech by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Tomi Okamura (SPD), at lunch today. The head of state may discuss it with Okamura at a meeting of constitutional officials on January 26, Babiš told reporters. According to him, they discussed the foreign agenda with the president in particular.

Okamura criticized the provision of weapons to Ukraine and the leadership of the Ukrainian state, which provoked a sharp reaction from the opposition as well as Ukrainian politicians and diplomats. He opposed Ukrainian membership in the EU, harshly criticized the EU's position and those around President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking of "Ukrainian thieves around the Zelensky junta."

"We basically said it, but I am not Mr. Okamura's spokesman. I was commenting on it. It was not something fundamental, we mentioned it in one sentence," said the prime minister. Babiš had previously said that Okamura understood the speech as the head of the SPD movement for his voters, and did not want to comment further.

According to Babiš, during the New Year's lunch, the Prime Minister and the President discussed Ukraine, security cooperation, foreign travel, and some legislative proposals, such as the Civil Service Act or a proposal to freeze politicians' salaries.

Source: Hospodářské noviny