Election-winner Andrej Babis visited Prague Castle on Wednesday to hand over his list of Cabinet nominees to President Petr Pavel.
They included Filip Turek, the candidate for Czech environment minister from the conservative, Eurosceptic Motorists for Themselves party, one of Babis’ two coalition partners.
Turek, an ex-racing driver, has faced intense media scrutiny over allegedly racist, sexist, and homophobic Facebook posts, multiple Hitler salutes, and an incident involving a Saudi diplomat and a spent ammunition.
Motorists originally put forward him for the post of Foreign Minister and party leader Petr Macinka for Environment Minister. However, the names were reversed after a last-minute change on Wednesday morning.
Powell rejects Turek for cabinet post
But even this was not enough to satisfy the President. “The president’s position is that he does not think Mr. Turek should be in the cabinet,” Andrzej Babis told reporters after his latest meeting with Powell.
“I will now go back to talk to the motorists’ party and we will decide how to proceed,” Babis said. He said President Powell will talk to all ministerial candidates over the next two weeks.
When Babis described what will happen in the month before Christmas – by which time he is expected to be named prime minister – snowflakes fell on the edge of the microphone in the courtyard of Prague Castle, but the festive cheer is short.
Accusations of racism, sexism and homophobia
Turek’s difficulties began when the Czech daily newspaper Denik N Published a series of screenshots of what it said were posts and comments that had been removed from his Facebook account.
In 2010, when a group of neo-Nazi supporters were given long prison sentences for an arson attack on the home of a Roma family – resulting in severe burns to a two-year-old girl – Turek reportedly wrote that there should have been “extenuating circumstances” for the sentence, because the family was Roma.
claimed in 2015 Denik NTurek appeared to have used a racist slur when referring to US President Barack Obama and later reportedly referred to the majority-African American area of Los Angeles as “Planet of the Apes”.
A few years later, when Munich City Council requested permission to illuminate the Allianz Arena football stadium in rainbow colors during the Euro 2020 championship to show LGBTQ+ support, Turek reportedly shared a post on the story, commenting “Looks like the last proud German died in 1945.”
The list kept increasing.
Turek denies he is a Nazi supporter
Denik N Turek claimed there were several posts in which he referred to himself as the “Woods” (Check for “Führer”) as well as the “Deuce” and his Prague apartment as the “Eagle’s Nest” – a reference to Hitler’s mountain retreat in Bavaria.
Turek categorically denies allegations that he is a racist or pro-Nazi.
basically describing Denik N As the story became a hit job by hostile media, he refused to rewrite some of the comments he later deleted and demanded proof. Other posts he described simply as his brand of “black humor.” Some, he said, were the result of lending his phone to someone at a bar.
Similarly, Turek dismissed several photographs of him giving a Nazi salute as a joke, and not meant seriously.
Will Turek reconsider his nomination?
However, most agree that Turek, who boasts a collection of luxury cars and has an apparent disdain for the European Green Deal, is hardly suitable for environment minister.
Czech journalist and political commentator Jindrich Sidlo said, “Above all, Filip Turek himself would not like to be in the Ministry of the Environment.”
“This is not what he dreamed of — to travel the world, to feel like he belonged to high society and to take part in shaping history,” Sidlow told DW. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he ultimately reconsiders his nomination.”
Turek’s ties to scandals continue to grow
President Powell had previously stated that Filip Turek’s comments were the main obstacle to his appointment.
However, Turek also admitted placing a used rifle cartridge and a drawing of a gallows on the roof of a Saudi embassy employee’s car following an altercation. He claimed that the man was harassing his girlfriend.
Meanwhile, some journalists noted that the notes Babis was carrying on Wednesday revealed that the president also had a problem with Turek admitting to driving at 200 kilometers per hour (124 mph) on a Czech motorway, allegedly failing to declare assets worth €3 million ($3.47 million) and claiming he had built a garage without proper planning permission.
What does the Constitution say?
Some say the Czech constitution does not give President Pavel much room to maneuver after Babis was formally named prime minister.
“So far, there has been a consensus among constitutional lawyers and politicians that the president can express his wishes and preferences, but he must accept the candidate who has been officially proposed by the prime minister,” said journalist Petr Kambursky, a commentator. lidov novini Newspaper.
“The government is formed as a result of parliamentary elections, and is accountable to the parliament,” Kambersky told DW. He said that the President, although directly elected by the people, has no authority to take decisions on the government or its policies.
Throughout the scandal, motorists have insisted that they would walk out if Turek was not allowed to join the government.
However, observers say they are unlikely to deal with that threat.
But it certainly increases pressure on Andrej Babis, who faces a separate conflict with President Powell over his as-yet-unresolved conflict of interest.
Edited by: Angiel Flanagan