Czech Republic: Pavel rejects Turek as minister
Filip Turek of the Motorists' Party, who was a candidate for the post of Czech Minister of Environmental Affairs, will not be joining the government after all. Turek has been accused of racism, homophobia and sexism due to various statements he has made in the past. On Wednesday, during a New Year's dinner in Prague with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, President Petr Pavel refused to appoint Turek to a ministerial post.
Unfit for government
According to Deník N, the president's decision sent a clear message to the nation:
“A minister in a democratic country should not be a person who wants to burn his opponents in ovens, who raises his right arm in a salute, who calls himself a leader, who describes the shooting of innocent people as a purge, and who, on top of all that, talks openly about who he would he like to arrest or hang from lampposts. ... When the prime minister, who is responsible for proposing ministers, refused to oppose Turek, the president did it for him.”
Compelled to manoeuvre
Hospodářské noviny points out that there is a clear reason for Prime Minister Babiš's weeks of ambivalent behaviour in the Turek affair:
“Above all, this reveals the weakness of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. ... Babiš, who is clearly uncomfortable with the Turek affair, does not have the power to maintain order within the government. ... The reason is clear to anyone willing to see it: he needs the support of the Motorists' Party [and the third coalition party, Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD)] to secure his own immunity from prosecution. The bottom line is that Czech politics is being heavily influenced by the prime minister's fear of prosecution for fraud.”