Czech President Petr Pavel, a former head of the armed forces and ex-chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, is usually measured and calm. But in an unscheduled press briefing at Prague Castle he spoke with visible emotion to accuse Foreign Minister Petr Macinka of blackmail.
Macinka, leader of the euroskeptic Motorists for Themselves party — one of three parties in Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s conservative coalition — sent late-night SMS messages to Petr Kolar, the president’s chief adviser. Pavel published the messages in full.
In them Macinka threatened consequences unless Pavel dropped his opposition to appointing the Motorists’ candidate, Filip Turek, as environment minister. “If I have Turek at the Environment Ministry, he can have peace of mind. If not, I will burn our bridges in a way that will enter the textbooks of political science as an extreme case of cohabitation,” Macinka wrote, adding he had the prime minister’s support and backing from the far-right SPD party.
Kolar, a former ambassador to Washington and Moscow, said he would pass the message on but doubted Pavel would change his mind. Macinka replied: “I’m not sure he realizes properly that he’s no longer a soldier, but a politician… I’m prepared to fight him over Turek so brutally that it will become a major, long-lasting problem. With no scruples.”
The exchange has dominated Czech headlines. The police’s National Center Against Organized Crime (NCOZ) confirmed it received a formal submission from the President’s Office to assess whether the messages could constitute a crime under Czech law. Most lawyers quoted in local media say the texts are distasteful rather than clearly illegal, but the president’s referral means authorities must examine the matter.
Macinka denies blackmail, saying the messages were part of ordinary political negotiation. The opposition has seized on the spat and called a vote of no-confidence in the government next week — a move widely expected to fail, but an awkward start for Babis’s new cabinet.
Tensions threaten to spill into foreign policy. Macinka suggested Pavel might not be allowed to represent Czechia at the NATO summit in Ankara in July, noting that accreditation is processed by the Foreign Ministry. Babis said he expects Pavel to attend, but on Thursday he backed Macinka and ruled out dismissing him.
The cabinet also rescinded approval for a set of ambassadorial postings agreed by the outgoing government and the president; Pavel can refuse to sign replacements proposed by the new cabinet. Such moves have raised concerns about diplomatic paralysis.
Analysts see political motives. Journalist Jindrich Sidlo suggested the Motorists need an opponent to avoid being absorbed into Babis’s circle and that Pavel’s actions will be judged by how they affect the 2028 presidential race. Macinka, who won roughly 6,400 votes in last September’s parliamentary election, is confronting a president who received about 3.3 million votes in 2023.
Commentators argue Macinka miscalculated. Josef Bouska said Macinka, who once served as an aide to former president Vaclav Klaus, overestimated his political instincts and lacks an independent record. Bouska compared Macinka’s approach to a bungled, heavy-handed threat that will backfire, predicting Pavel will refuse to appoint Filip Turek.
For now, the dispute has pushed Pavel into open confrontation with the Babis government, amplified political tensions, and left questions over ambassadorial appointments and Czech representation at international meetings unresolved. Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan