Final Word from Tuesday, June 23, 2026

If there's one thing both sides in the dispute about attendance at the Nato summit can agree upon it's that the other side is acting childishly. Green Deal Envoy Filip Turek of Moto told MFD that it's childish of Pres. Petr Pavel to insist on attending even though he has no influence over the issues to be discussed. Petr Kolář, an adviser to Pavel, told Reflex that we shouldn't allow the constitutional order and security of the country to be jeopardized by the adolescent behavior of Foreign Min. Petr Macinka. Yet behind these put-downs is a power struggle perhaps even more significant than the "Sarajevo assassination" of Václav Klaus in 1997 or the effort to strip the ailing Miloš Zeman of his powers in 2021. If Chief Justice Josef Baxa of the Constitutional Court now intervenes in Pavel's favor and issues an edict that the president alone has the authority to determine when he represents the country abroad, it will raise real questions about who will be in political control when a full-fledged crisis hits Europe. [ Ankara Turkey Motorists attempt ]