The House of Representatives called on the President to immediately appoint Turek as a minister

The Chamber of Deputies has called on the votes of President Petr Pavel's governing coalition to appoint members of the government on the proposal of the Prime Minister without delay and without assessing the suitability of candidates. The call concerns the honorary president of the Motorists, Filip Turek, whom the head of state refused to appoint as Minister of the Environment due to his positions and statements, but he does not directly appoint him. According to the opposition, the resolution is useless because the president is not accountable to the Chamber of Deputies. In response, Hrad stated that the Chamber of Deputies cannot impose obligations on the President of the Republic or determine how he should proceed.

"The Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic calls on the President of the Republic to respect the Constitution of the Czech Republic and to appoint members of the government without undue delay if they are proposed to him by the Prime Minister. Assessing the suitability of individual candidates for members of the government is the task of the Chamber of Deputies, which will then only express or not express its confidence in the government," reads the resolution, which was supported by 101 out of 183 deputies.

The Chamber of Deputies also did not approve opposition proposals, including the recommendation of Jiří Pospíšil (TOP 09), to instead call on Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) to file a competency lawsuit against the president with the Constitutional Court regarding the appointment of ministers. While the president would welcome this lawsuit in order to clarify the dispute over the right to appoint members of the government, the coalition did not want to accept it.

Hrad: The Chamber of Deputies cannot impose obligations on the President, Pavl's opinion does not change

It is the inalienable right of the Chamber of Deputies to take positions on the appointment of ministers, but the chamber cannot impose obligations on the president or determine how he should proceed. The President's Office (KPR) stated this in a press release today. It was responding to the call of the Chamber of Deputies, which, with the votes of the governing coalition, called on President Petr Pavel to appoint members of the government on the proposal of the Prime Minister without delay and without assessing the suitability of candidates. The resolution did not change the president's previous opinion, the Castle said in response.

Pavel refused to appoint Turek as a member of the government as the only one of the proposed candidates, arguing that the Motorists' MP had repeatedly shown a lack of respect for the Czech legal system. The number, intensity and long-term nature of this behavior indicate that in his case these were not one-time excesses, for example due to youthful recklessness, the president stated in  a letter  to Babiš.

The President's Office referred to the letter, stating that Pavel considers his arguments for not appointing Turek to be sufficiently justified. According to the head of state, they are not in conflict with the constitution or constitutional practices. "The Chamber of Deputies can take positions on a given matter, it is its inalienable right, but it cannot impose obligations on the President of the Republic or determine how he should proceed. The adopted resolution of the Chamber of Deputies therefore does not change the previous position of the President of the Republic on this matter," the President's Office stated.

Other rejected proposals

Deputy Speaker of the STAN Karel Dvořák did not push through a resolution according to which the exercise of public power presupposes loyalty to the constitutional order and its values, that the prime minister is responsible for the composition of the government, and that the current actions of the president cannot be confused with an assessment of the expertise and political quality of candidates. The Chamber did not even call on Babiš to propose a trustworthy and competent person to replace Turek, after agreement in the coalition, and to no longer burden the public with undignified cabaret.

Michal Zuna (TOP 09) was unsuccessful in his request to the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Motorists Petr Macinek that the foreign trips of the deputies invited or sent by him should not serve 'to spread Russian propaganda narratives, nor to damage the good name and security interests of the Czech Republic.' He was thus referring to Turek's statement that NATO expansion was to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Similarly, Helena Langšádlová (TOP 09) did not receive sufficient support for the Chamber's call on members of the government to familiarize themselves with factual information about the course of the war in Ukraine and the hybrid attacks that are taking place against the member states of the European Union and NATO and to strengthen spending on the country's defense and resilience. Similarly, the Chamber did not call on the Minister of Defense, Jaromír Zůna (for the SPD), to act in the interests of the Czech Republic, according to his own knowledge and conscience, independently of the instructions or influences of other persons, i.e. representatives of the SPD.

As on Thursday, the People's Party member Marian Jurečka did not receive enough votes to call on the government to reconsider the appointment of Turek as Commissioner for Climate Policy and the Green Deal . Similarly, Langšádlová was unable to persuade the Chamber of Deputies to call on Macinka, as interim Minister of the Environment , 'to respect the results of scientific knowledge in the field of climate change in his activities.' "Some members of the government are endangering our future with their positions," she said.

Zdroj: Deník.cz