Babiš says Pavel's NATO summit attendance will harm Czechia

President Petr Pavel's attendance at next week's NATO summit in Ankara will harm Czechia's interests abroad, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said on Thursday in an interview with the Czech news website Deník.cz. Babiš argued that this year's summit will focus on economic and defence spending issues, which are the government's responsibility rather than the president's.

The government had initially excluded Pavel from the Czech delegation, but the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic ordered it to ensure the president could attend. Babiš will lead the delegation, while Pavel says protocol dictates that the head of state should head the country's delegation.