On Thursday, 5 December, in Brussels, EU Commissioner for Budget Johannes Hahn told the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control (see EUROPE 12382/29), “I cannot give you an analysis” of the merits of the current case concerning the alleged conflict-of-interest situation in which Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš finds himself.
While the members of this committee asked for the audit reports to be made available to them in order to shed light on the Babiš case, Mr Hahn reiterated that he could not publish the audit report “because I want to respect the rules”. The commissioner reminded them that the proceedings are not yet complete, “so I cannot give you an analysis of the merits because they refer to the main questions on compliance”.
Mid-2020. The audit report was forwarded to the Czech authorities who will “come to a decision”, added Mr Hahn. The proceedings will be complete once there has been a hearing between the two parties and once the committee has been able to present a report of conclusions, which is expected to take place “around mid-2020”, Mr Hahn explained. Only then can the decisions taken be public [knowledge].
On Wednesday, 4 December, the Czech prosecutor general announced that the investigation into EU subsidy fraud was being reopened against the Czech prime minister. The investigations had initially been closed in September. The prosecutor’s decision follows the Czech media’s publication of excerpts of a European Commission audit report according to which Andrej Babiš—with his dual role as a politician and businessman—is in a conflict-of-interest situation.
This report also suggests that Agrofert should reimburse the EU approximately 450 million Czech koruna, or €17.6 million. “It is not true that this money will be reimbursed. There is absolutely no reason to do so”, Andrej Babiš told members of parliament on Wednesday. He pointed out that Agrofert is now entrusted to two trust funds in accordance with the Czech conflict-of-interest law. The auditors noted that Mr Babis remained the owner of Agrofert and, as of February 2017, of the trust funds that control it.
Meeting behind closed doors. Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control Monika Hohlmeier (EPP, Germany) stated that it was a “final [audit report]. The rules must be respected, but the Committee on Budgetary Control must be able to talk about the proceedings, at least behind closed doors, and understand what happened in order to extract lessons for agricultural and cohesion spending before the EU’s next multiannual financial framework (MFF) is adopted”, she said.
Mr Hahn has shown himself to be willing to discuss everything behind closed doors provided that it would remain “confidential and [that] there would not be a press conference”, he said ironically. Link to the audit report: http://bit.ly/2OPO2d1 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)