According to Bloomberg's report on June 23 local time, Czech President Petr Pavel filed a lawsuit against a government decision at the Czech Supreme Court. The NATO summit this year is scheduled to take place in Turkey next month, and this decision excluded him from the Czech delegation participating in the summit.
I believe excluding the president from the delegation attending the summit is unprecedented and extremely unfortunate. Pavel stated in a statement that, as a member of NATO, the Czech Republic previously participated in 20 summits led by the president with his delegation in attendance.
He said, “If there is a reason to change this practice, it must be done through negotiation and consensus, rather than being decided unilaterally by the government.” He also stated that he would respect the ruling of the Constitutional Court on this matter.
In fact, while the Czech government failed to meet NATO’s defense spending targets, its leadership has been arguing for months about who will attend this summit. President Pavel insists that military spending must be increased at all costs, while Prime Minister Andrej Babis prioritizes domestic policies such as healthcare.
January 7, 2026, Prague, Czech Republic. President Petr Pavel (right) of the Czech Republic met with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš at Prague Castle for a New Year's lunch reception. IC Photo
Previously, Babich stated that President Pavel would not be part of the NATO summit delegation in Czech Republic. This decision further escalated the dispute among the country’s top leaders, which had persisted for months.
On June 22nd local time, Babiš told reporters that he would form an official Czech delegation along with the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to attend the summit in Ankara, scheduled for July.
Czech is a republic with a parliamentary system and representative democracy. The head of state is the President, whose position is mainly ceremonial, while the Prime Minister is the head of government. Czech's legislative body is composed of a bicameral structure, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Among them, the House of Representatives has the most power, and the government, as the executive branch, must be accountable to it.
However, it is worth noting that since the Czech President was elected in 2013, the country's political system has shown a tendency towards a semi-presidential system.
Bloomberg reports that the Czech Republic will not meet the benchmark of 2% defense spending as a percentage of GDP set by NATO in 2025, and will also fail to achieve this goal this year.
As Czech Prime Minister, Babiš promised to achieve this goal starting from 2027. Additionally, as a billionaire, he is betting on his close relationship with U.S. President Trump, which could help him avoid harsh criticism regarding insufficient defense spending at this NATO summit.
Last year, NATO allies agreed to increase defense and security-related expenditures to 5% of GDP by 2035, including 3.5% for core military expenses.
