Over the past two weeks, Czech President Milos Zeman has been holding a series of meetings with members of the new Czech government. On December 7, he met with the candidate for foreign minister Jan Lipavsky (Pirate Party) and the president advised him to withdraw from his candidacy due to his alleged reservations about Lipavsky´s views on Russia, China and Israel, reported Radio Frekvence 1, citing two sources familiar with the meeting. 

In an interview for Czech Television, Lipavsky refused to comment on whether the president made such a recommendation and whether he is the one candidate the president has said he has reservations about. He kept saying that the list of candidates is up to a decision of new Prime Minister Petr Fiala and his agreement with the president. 

Following the speculations in the media, Fiala said that nothing had changed in the nomination of candidates. If Zeman refuses to appoint any member of the new cabinet, Fiala will consider filing a lawsuit against Zeman with the Constitutional Court.

"I still believe the government will be appointed as a whole. If the president insists on objecting to one of my nominees, I would consider it necessary to file a competency lawsuit. This is in order to clarify once and for all what the powers of the president are, and what the powers of the prime minister are in this matter," Fiala told Czech Television.

If Zeman does indeed veto Lipavsky, the question is whether Fiala would really stand firm and appeal to the constitutional court, a move that could hold up the appointment of the whole government at a time when, in his words, it faces “the biggest crisis in the country’s modern history”.

But if Fiala backed down, it would not only confirm Zeman’s dominance in foreign policy, it could provoke the Pirates to leave the coalition, and destroy his own authority before he has even started.

According to the Czech Constitution, the president appoints the prime minister and upon approval of the new PM, he appoints members of the new government. The constitution does not mention the president's right to veto individual ministers. 

Zeman has tried in the past to influence the composition of governments. During the previous government he successfully refused to appoint Miroslav Poche as foreign minister or Michal Šmard (both CSSD) as minister of culture.

Constitutional lawyer Marek Antos said that, based on the constitution, the president has an obligation to appoint the proposed candidate. "The government does not answer to the president, but to the Chamber of Deputies," he explained, adding that the only exception for not appointing the candidate would be a legal obstacle. 

"If a competency lawsuit were filed with the Constitutional Court and the Constitutional Court wanted to hear it on the merits, I believe it would hear the case as a matter of priority. And if the Constitutional Court indeed treats it as a matter that deserves priority consideration, there is no fundamental reason why it could not be decided in a few weeks. It certainly need not take months, but at the same time it is not a matter of a few days," added constitutional lawyer Ladislav Vyhnanek, as quoted by the Czech News Agency.

According to the political scientist Josef Mlejnek of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University Prague, from the point of view of power (between PM and president), the current situation is an interesting game that is, however, likely to drag on. Given the coronavirus pandemic, however, it is a rather risky delay. 

Even if Fiala were to appeal to the Constitutional Court and it ruled against Zeman's veto, the president might still refuse to appoint Lipavsky. Both chambers of the parliament would then need to approve a motion for impeachment by a three fifths majority, which may not pass in the lower house.

Lubomir Kopecek of Masaryk University in Brno said that the fact that neither Zeman nor Fiala have published who this candidate is, allows the president to change his mind, withdraw his recommendation and appoint a new government as proposed by Fiala. At the same time, Lipavsky stays tactically silent because if he were to confirm he were recommended to resign, he would worsen his political position. 

"It is difficult to determine what steps would be best, because all of them require some political costs and it is primarily up to the prime minister to judge their in/appropriateness," Kopecek added.

One possibility is that Zeman would withdraw his objections to Lipavsky provided that the new government does not proceed with changing some of the ambassadors that Zeman had a part in appointing. 

On December 9, Fiala met with Zeman for an informal meeting to discuss the next steps of the appointment of the new cabinet. He did not want to reveal more information.