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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.

The number of charging stations for passenger electric vehicles in Czechia increased by almost one fifth last year, according to data from the Transport Research Centre. There are now more than 7,500 charging points around the country. The rise in charging stations is linked to the growing popularity of electric vehicles: 21,000 EV’s were sold last year, bringing the total number in Czechia to almost 58,000. According to experts, however, most people still charge their electric vehicles at private locations, such as homes or workplaces.

Honorary president of the Motorists party and MP Filip Turek says his lawyers have prepared a draft lawsuit for protection of personality rights against President Petr Pavel over his refusal to appoint him  minister of the environment and the stated reasons for his decision.

Speaking to journalists ahead of a meeting of coalition leaders, Turek said he wanted to discuss his next steps with coalition partners. Turek said he was deeply offended by the president’s justification as to why he was unsuitable for the post of minister, particularly the president’s claim that he is a Nazi sympathiser, arguing that the posts he had placed on social media were intended as black humor. According to Turek, the president has voluntarily entered a political confrontation by failing to respect the results of October’s general elections.