Czech President Miloš Zeman rejected the nomination of the country’s next foreign minister on the grounds of allegedly poor dissertation, laying the foundation for a constitutional tug of war.
In a move that many constitutional scholars condemned as baseless, Zeman refused to accept Jan Lipavsky’s nomination on the grounds of “low qualifications” and added that he only completed a bachelor’s degree, which he said was better than all. Everyone has low academic qualifications and other proposed ministers in the incoming coalition government.
He specifically mentioned Lipavsky’s bachelor’s thesis, saying that the examiner gave it the “worst grade.”
The Czech Radio confirmed the basis of Zeman’s criticism, which reported that after Lipavsky defended him at the School of International Studies of Charles University in Prague, his paper on the politicization of Russia’s energy supply received the lowest level 3.
However, critics questioned his reasoning and pointed out that although Hamachek only holds a high school diploma, Zeman has approved the temporary appointment of Jan Hamachek as the outgoing government’s acting foreign minister.
The outspoken populist Zeman also criticized Lipavsky’s criticism of Israel and the so-called Visegrad group (including Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic, Formed after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
He further criticized his proposal to hold an event to commemorate Sudeten German Day in the Czech Republic-to commemorate the Germans who were expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II.
Lipavsky, a member of the Free Pirate Party, vowed to restore the Czech foreign policy to the clear pro-Western stance advocated by the country’s first post-communist leader Vaclav Havel, and promised to take action against Russia and China A tougher stand. The president promoted closer ties.
Disagreements may further delay the inauguration of the new coalition, which is still waiting to take office after the election resulted in the defeat of Andrej Babiš’s government. The current Prime Minister Andrej Babiš continues Ruling by guard.
The prime minister-designate Peter Fiala stated that he would insist on Lipavsky’s appointment and vowed to submit the matter to the Constitutional Court after meeting with Zeman at the President’s Country House in Rani Castle next Monday.
“The Constitutional Court needs to resolve the issue of the authority to appoint members of the new government once and for all,” Fiala, a senior partner of the coalition and leader of the center-right Spolu Group, wrote on Twitter.
Analysts said that the court may take up to seven weeks to resolve the dispute, and most people are expected to rule on Zeman. To avoid such delays in the formation of the new government, Fiala can accept a cabinet without a foreign minister, or temporarily nominate herself for this role, while submitting Lipavsky’s nomination to the court.
