Czech PM Babiš to Lead NATO Summit Delegation After Dispute with President

The Czech government has resolved a months-long standoff with President Petr Pavel by deciding that Prime Minister Andrej Babiš will lead the Czech delegation to the NATO summit in Ankara in July. The delegation will also include the ministers of defense and foreign affairs. Babiš, whose ANO party leads the Czech coalition government, commented on the dispute — which had escalated to a formal legal complaint — saying he had expected the president to rise above the conflict. In Czech constitutional practice, foreign representation has traditionally been a shared competence between the president and the government, and disputes over who leads delegations to major international summits have been a recurring source of tension between the two offices. The Ankara summit will bring together leaders from all 32 NATO member states, making the question of who speaks for the Czech Republic a matter of some diplomatic significance.