Czech President Petr Pavel — a former head of the armed forces and ex-chairman of NATO’s Military Committee known for a measured style — broke his usual reserve in an unscheduled briefing at Prague Castle to accuse Foreign Minister Petr Macinka of blackmail.
Macinka, leader of the euroskeptic Motorists for Themselves party, one of three partners in Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s conservative coalition, sent late-night SMS messages to Pavel’s chief adviser, Petr Kolar. Pavel made the exchanges public. In them Macinka warned of serious consequences unless Pavel dropped his opposition to naming the Motorists’ nominee, Filip Turek, as environment minister, and asserted he had Babis’s backing and support from the far-right SPD.
Kolar, a former ambassador to Washington and Moscow, had replied that he would relay the message but did not expect it to change the president’s stance. Macinka’s follow-up message stressed he was prepared to fight over Turek “brutally” and without scruples, language that prompted the president to go public.
The presidential office has filed a formal submission with the police’s National Center Against Organized Crime (NCOZ) to determine whether the texts may amount to a criminal offence. Legal commentators quoted in Czech media say the messages are politically distasteful and aggressive but stop short of a clearcut criminal case; nonetheless, the referral requires an official review.
Macinka rejects the blackmail charge, calling the texts routine political bargaining. The opposition has seized on the row to table a no-confidence vote in the government next week — an action broadly expected to fail but one that casts an awkward spotlight on Babis’s new cabinet.
The dispute has raised the prospect of spillover into foreign policy. Macinka suggested Pavel might be prevented from representing Czechia at the NATO summit in Ankara in July, noting that accreditation goes through the Foreign Ministry. Babis has said he expects the president to attend but publicly backed Macinka and on Thursday ruled out dismissing him.
The new cabinet also withdrew approval for a slate of ambassadorial nominations that had been agreed with the outgoing government and the president. Pavel can refuse to sign replacements proposed by the new cabinet, and analysts warn such moves could produce temporary diplomatic paralysis.
Commentators and analysts see political calculations behind the clash. Some suggest the Motorists’ party seeks to assert its identity within Babis’s circle, while others note the personal stakes: Macinka was a minor vote-getter in last year’s parliamentary election, in contrast to Pavel’s strong 2023 presidential mandate. Critics argue Macinka misjudged the tone and impact of his messages and risked galvanizing opposition to his party’s candidate for the environment ministry.
For now, the episode has pushed Pavel into open confrontation with the government, intensified political tensions in Prague, and left key diplomatic questions — ambassadorial appointments and international representation — unresolved.