Czech Republic. President Milos Zeman rejected the candidacy of Jan Lipavsky to head the Foreign Ministry

Ziemann concluded that 36-year-old Jan Lipavsky did not have the qualifications and noted that the candidate had only a bachelor’s degree, not a master’s degree. The President of the Czech Republic added that he did not agree with Lipavsky’s distance towards the Visegrad Group and Israel, or the public announcement that the next so-called German Sudeten days should be held in the Czech Republic.

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The “distance to the V4 group” made up of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, indicated by the president, is – according to commentators – a conclusion from the Lebowski statement on a practical approach to cooperation in this group. In one of the interviews, when mentioning strategic forms of international cooperation, Lipavsky omitted the Visegrad group. In addition, he said that he did not agree with the president’s plan to move the Czech embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and did not find any criticism of the Palestinian movements.

Lipavsky himself referred to President Zeman’s decision. He commented on social media that “the constitution stipulates that the president of the republic will appoint members of the government at the request of the prime minister.” “My appointment to the post of foreign minister (…) is important,” the candidate for the post of Czech foreign minister wrote on Twitter.

The days of Sudeten Germans, that is, former Czechoslovak citizens who were expelled from it after 1945, are traditionally organized in May. Only once attended a representative of the government of the Czech Republic. Zeman, always cold about possible cooperation between the Czech state and German Sudetenland organizations, believes that the proposal to organize their celebrations in the Czech Republic goes beyond certain limits.

Prime Minister Peter Fiala reiterated that he would turn to the Constitutional Court (US) with a constitutional complaint if the President did not appoint all the members of the government he proposed. She is scheduled to meet Zeman on Monday.

Politicians from the groups that will form the center-right Viale government support Lebavsky’s candidacy, who are also supporters of the complaint to the United States. Lebavsky himself thanked the social network for his support and emphasized that his statements did not undermine the statements made in the alliance agreement, which also applies to Czech foreign policy.

In the view of most constitutionalists, the president has no right to reject the nominations submitted by the prime minister. Meanwhile, Zeman assures that the prime minister, in accordance with the constitution, submits to him a proposal to appoint members of the government.

In the word “suggestion” is the right to choose. Commentators assert that in the late 1990s, Zeman entered into a similar dispute with then-President Václav Havel, who did not agree to appoint all members of his government.