The Czech government has agreed to let President Petr Pavel attend a NATO summit in Turkey next week, but has refused to allow him to lead the country’s delegation. This decision comes after the country’s Constitutional Court issued an injunction ordering the government to allow Pavel to attend.

Leadership Dispute

Pavel, a former army general and head of NATO’s military committee, has been keen to attend the summit and has expressed his support for increased defense spending and aid to Ukraine. However, the populist government led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis has refused to raise defense spending and has sought to limit Pavel’s role in the summit.

The government has argued that Babis needs space to explain Czech policies, including the country’s failure to meet a NATO target for spending at least 2% of national output on defense. The Czechs are on course to miss this target again this year after the government cut $1 billion from defense spending.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.