Fair is fair: Macinka blackmailed President Pavel. The president can start with him and has good leverage for it.
After the appointment of Andrej Babiš's government (ANO), one unresolved question remained in the air. The Ministry of the Environment was filled by the chairman of motorists, Petr Macinka, using the two-ministers system. The president refused to appoint his ostentatiously saluting colleague, so Macinka is trying to show that he too communicates in a similar way. The president labelled his actions as an attempt at blackmail.
Although some politicians claim that similar behavior is quite common for example in the Chamber of Deputies, reports made public by the President Petr Pavel reveal the image of the current state of the sewer system of Czech politics.
The dispute over the ministerial fiefdom for Filip Turk escalated in an unprecedented way and gained unexpected intensity in the last days. Petr Pavel was for not naming compared to Milos Zeman. However, then it was enough for the considered candidate for foreign minister, Miroslav Poche, to simply say: "No."
Macinka is not looking for a real solution to the conflict with Pavel, that's why she is blatantly blackmailing him
Petr Pavel did not appoint the proposed candidate as prime minister, which is in fact contrary to the interest of the prime minister, thus there is a paved playground for a competence dispute. Pavel himself called on Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to do so and the dispute was resolved at the Constitutional Court. It can't be solved elsewhere, because there is a contradiction between the prime minister's "proposing" right and the president's "appointing" right.
However, the current government does not believe the dispute should be resolved in court, but according to the perspective of the leader of the smallest government party, it should be dealt with through strange threats sent to the president's adviser. This was preceded by a strange "non-arrival" to a scheduled castle meeting between the actors.
If the Motorists were real politicians and they cared enough for Filip Turek to run the ministry (obviously it doesn't matter which one), they would have two real solutions in front of them. If Turek resigned his parliamentary mandate, he could be Macinka's deputy minister and virtually represent him in almost everything and everywhere. But that would worsen his financial situation.
The second political solution is to leave the government, as the prime minister, who either had to convince the president, which did not succeed, or file that jurisdictional complaint, is responsible for the government. The result of the Constitutional Court's decision is uncertain. On Macinka's side, everything did not go without the usual whining regarding the impartiality of the court. In other words, we accept the court only when it decides in our favor. However, this is just one of the many childish attitudes in Motoring politics.
He prefers to offer "peace" via SMS and on the other hand threatens with "maximalist steps" if the president does not listen. It's clearly a case of blackmail, but whether it's illegal action is of course more complex. If you refuse to let the child watch TV until they eat lunch, this is essentially blackmail, but you cannot be jailed for it.
Blackmail is just another performance in the circus named Turek
However, beneath the surface we can see a more interesting message from Macinka. As we have already shown, he is not concerned with real politics and has long understood that he will not convince the president. He is only starting a hunt for media interest to keep the Turek topic current for as long as possible. He mobilizes Turek's supporters and also Pavlo's opponents.
It would have been enough to make a threatening phone call and the entire case would have been an assertion against an assertion. If something is sent in writing, it can always be used as evidence. The claims of Macinka's apologists that this is an indecent disclosure of communication? It's ridiculous simply because Macinka probably knows very well that the message has a much bigger potential to stir up the water.
He surely cannot think that the president will be frightened by his threat of "extreme cohabitation", can he? If the rest of the government wants to live at odds with the president, constantly undermining him, whether by boycotting ambassadors or sending pseudo-threats, they should read the Constitution, that Macinka so likes to talk about, one more time.
The president can veto any law. The Czech veto can indeed be overruled in the Chamber of Deputies, but it always requires 101 deputies, not a simple majority of those present. Each overruling of laws thus drags on for a number of months. Currently on offer for veto is the government budget, exceeding budget rules. The loudly declared problems with the budget during the change of government personnel may thus drag on into the middle of the year.
Motorists may not care about some laws and the coveted media circus named Turek could happily continue. The elected lawmakers of the governing parties could, however, show a bit more than just an endless game of offended boys.
Sources: author text, comment, X, novinky.cz
