By Euronews
Published on
The new Czech coalition government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš faced a no-confidence vote on Tuesday over the handling of a dispute with President Petr Pavel.
The vote was requested by opposition parties backing Pavel, who accused Czech Deputy Prime Minister Petr Macinka of blackmailing him after he refused to appoint a minister from the right-wing and eurosceptic Motorists for Themselves party. Macinka is the leader of that party.
Pavel said that the politician in question, Filip Turek, was ineligible to serve as environment minister after a newspaper published posts from his Facebook page found to be openly racist, homophobic and sexist.
Turek apologised for some posts but denied writing others.
Macinka accused the president of violating the constitution and threatened consequences if Pavel refused to appoint his ally, including efforts to block him from representing the country at a NATO summit later this year.
Tens of thousands of Czechs rallied on Sunday in the capital Prague and elsewhere in support of the president.
Babiš has rejected opposition calls to dismiss Macinka, who has refused to apologise. The government has a majority to survive the vote in the lower house of parliament. The timing of the no-confidence vote is uncertain, but it could come as soon as Tuesday.
Pavel and Babiš are set to meet on Wednesday over the issue.
Pavel swore in a new government on 15 December after Babiš and his ANO party won big in the October election and agreed to form a majority coalition with two smaller parties, the anti-immigration Freedom and Direct Democracy party and the Motorists.
The coalition’s agenda includes steering the country away from supporting Ukraine and rejecting some key EU policies.
Unlike the new government, Pavel — a retired army general — and the opposition are staunch supporters of Kyiv in its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Additional sources • AP