President Pavel met with PM Babiš over Macinka text messages

President Petr Pavel met Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO Party) at Prague Castle on Wednesday morning to discuss text messages sent last week by Foreign Minister Petr Macinka (Motorists), which Pavel has described as extremely serious and amounting to an attempt at blackmail. Neither Pavel nor Babiš commented publicly after the meeting. They later attended a session of the Security Council of the State.

The dispute centres on Pavel’s refusal to appoint Filip Turek (also Motorists) as environment minister. Macinka has rejected calls to resign, while the opposition has demanded his departure and initiated a no-confidence vote.