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The Chamber of Deputies is due to begin debating  a no-confidence motion in the Babiš administration tabled by the opposition parties. The no-confidence vote, initiated just two weeks after ruling party lawmakers approved the government in a 108-91 vote, was called over mounting pressure on President Pavel from a member of the cabinet that the head of state said “amounted to blackmail”. The prime minister’s refusal to sack Foreign Minister Macinka over the incident or apologize for what the opposition described as “mafia-style practices” led the opposition to initiate the vote, although it is almost certain to fail. The opposition only has 92 seats in the 200-strong lower house and would need 101 votes to bring down the government.

Paradoxically, Foreign Minister Macinka, who is at the centre of the scandal, will not be present for the vote since he is on a working visit to the United States.

The governing coalition of ANO, SPD and Motorists does not want to further escalate the dispute with President Pavel, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) said after Monday’s government session. Mr. Babiš said he would discuss the matter with the president on Wednesday morning. The drawn-out conflict arose after President Pavel refused to appoint Filip Turek, the Motorists’ honorary president, to the post of environment minister. Babiš said he expects to reach an agreement with the president on future cooperation. He added that Macinka had promised to change his style of communication.

The prime minister said that the question who would represent the Czech Republic at the NATO summit in Turkey in July would be decided later.

President Petr Pavel will attend a meeting of the National Security Council on Wednesday, the Presidential Office’s press department announced on its website. Ahead of the session, the president is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) at Prague Castle. The top officials are  due to discuss the rift between the head of state and the Motorists over the president’s refusal to appoint Filip Turek environment minister. The president last week accused Minister Macinka of trying to blackmail him into complying.

The president last attended a meeting of the National Security Council at the beginning of January. At that time, discussions included the future of the ammunition initiative through which Czechia facilitates deliveries of large-calibre ammunition to Ukraine. Babiš said then that the initiative would continue, but that Czechia would not contribute funding to it.

Europe lacks unity on some issues, which prevents it from becoming a global player, European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jozef Síkela said at a conference titled “Czech Priorities in European Policy”, organised by Euractiv. “Europe certainly has what it takes to rank among the strongest global actors, but to achieve this it needs greater unity” Síkela said. He noted that in recent months there have been cases when common interests were traded for supplies of gas or oil, or for a simple desire to weaken Europe.