Sobotka will not resign

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and badly laid plans almost certainly do. Bohuslav Sobotka intended to parade up to the Castle today and submit the cabinet's resignation, but the Castle has sent the message that Pres. Miloš Zeman will accept only Sobotka's resignation as the PM. This relies on a controversial interpretation of Art. 73 of the Constitution that separates the resignation of the PM from the resignation of other ministers. Just as important is Art. 68, which could analogously allow the president to appoint a new PM without the cabinet's needing to seek a new vote of confidence. Taken together, this could allow Zeman to part with Sobotka one minute and to slide a new fully empowered PM into his seat the next, leaving all other ministers in place. This means Andrej Babiš as well. Sobotka's long political career would end with a big thud. Unless he wants to be the only loser in this badly planned exercise, he will remain as the Czech PM.