Czech President Petr Pavel and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš both attended the NATO summit in Ankara, arriving on separate planes roughly an hour apart and staying on opposite ends of the same hotel floor, the culmination of a constitutional standoff over who controls Czech foreign policy.
The Babiš government had announced that Pavel would not represent the Czech Republic at the summit, and rejected a compromise the president proposed under which both officials would travel together.
Pavel filed a constitutional competence request with the Constitutional Court. His spokesman, Daniel Drék, told DW that the president viewed his exclusion as an unprecedented violation of his constitutional authority to represent the state abroad, and that the legal action sought to clarify who holds the power to decide whether the head of state attends NATO summits.
On June 24, the court issued a preliminary injunction ruling that the government, the foreign minister, and the ministry must allow the president to attend and could no longer prevent his participation. A final verdict is not expected for several months. Babiš said he respected the unusually swift decision, but did not fully comply: under the constitution, Pavel should have led the Czech delegation. A proposal by Pavel to divide high-level event appearances in advance also came to nothing.
Two delegations, one hotel floor
Turkey, as host, had to coordinate two separate Czech delegations. Both men attended the official dinner and appeared in the leaders’ group photograph. According to witnesses, Babiš repeatedly maneuvered through the crowd specifically to avoid shaking hands with the president.
Turkish organizers accorded Pavel the honors due a head of state. He participated in the informal dinner for heads of state and government and in the North Atlantic Council session. Pavel, a retired general and former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee from 2015 to 2018, is regarded among alliance leaders as an authority on military affairs. He has criticized the Babiš government for dropping a commitment to spend two percent of GDP on defense by 2026.
Back in Prague, Pavel told the news portal iDNES.cz that the situation amounted to a diplomatic downgrade. He said questions raised about the Czech Republic in Ankara concerned not only defense spending levels but also how the country would support Ukraine. US President Donald Trump also raised the defense spending issue at the summit.
The two men are sharply divided on Ukraine. Babiš opposes further Czech military assistance, while Prague permits only the export of weapons and ammunition. Pavel supports continued aid until Russia halts hostilities. After the summit, Babiš dismissed any criticism leveled at the Czech Republic in Ankara, saying sarcastically that he must have been at a different dinner.
Poll gap
Babiš became prime minister for a second time in late 2025, forming a coalition with his ANO party, the extremist Freedom and Direct Democracy movement, and the Trump-allied Motorists. He has accused Pavel of acting as an opposition leader and has waged a months-long campaign against Pavel’s prospects in the 2028 presidential election. A July poll by the STEM agency found 56 percent of Czechs trust the president, against 32 percent for the Babiš government.
