New legislation
The Chamber of Deputies approved a bill under which the heads of the Czech Republic’s permanent missions to international organizations would henceforth be appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, rather than by the President of the Republic. The change is part of a broader amendment related to the new Civil Service Act and will now be reviewed by the Senate. Therefore, it is not yet law.
The current Foreign Service Act classifies permanent missions to international organizations as diplomatic missions and stipulates that their heads are appointed and dismissed by the president upon the government’s recommendation. The approved bill would transfer this authority over permanent missions to the foreign minister. Supporters of the change argue that the constitutional term “heads of diplomatic missions” may not necessarily include permanent missions, such as those to the United Nations or the European Union.
However, constitutional lawyers dispute this interpretation. Jan Kysela described the proposal as unconstitutional, arguing that the power to appoint and dismiss heads of diplomatic missions is granted directly to the President by Article 63 of the Constitution, and that, in his view, ordinary law cannot narrow this authority. The Supreme Administrative Court has also previously stated that the dismissal of a head of a diplomatic mission is a power entrusted to the president directly by the Constitution. The Presidential Office considers the proposal an encroachment on the constitutional powers of the head of state and announced that the president will consider how to proceed. Any petition filed with the Constitutional Court would not legally constitute a “constitutional complaint,” but rather a motion to repeal the law or a portion thereof.
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