The EPP group in the European Parliament called, on Monday 26 April, for a procedure under the ‘Rule of law’ conditionality mechanism against the Czech government for misuse of EU funds.
“Further disbursement of funds must be halted”, the EPP said, citing the findings of the “devastating verdict” of the European Commission’s final audit on the conflicts of interest involving Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.
The Commission is not asking for financial corrections, a Commission spokesperson said on Monday. Eleven of the 15 recommendations have already been implemented by the Czech Republic, according to the spokesperson. “There is nothing to be recovered”, the Commission added.
The Commission notes that the case took place during the timeframe of the EU’s 2007-2013 financial framework, when the text on the link between the budget and the Rule of law mechanism entered into force on 1 January 2021. “The timing is different”, the institution said.
The Commission’s audit concludes that Mr Babiš is the beneficial owner of Agrofert and is therefore breaching the Czech Conflict of Interest Act. Furthermore, his position as Prime Minister provides him the possibility to exercise influence on the allocation of EU funds in the Czech Republic. He is therefore breaching the EU’s Financial Regulation (see EUROPE 12613/43).
Monika Hohlmeier (EPP, Germany), Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control, said: “The final and public conclusion of the Commission is that Andrej Babiš has been breaching both EU and Czech legislation. By not preventing and sanctioning the conflicts of interest of the Czech Prime Minister, the Czech Republic is failing to comply with EU legislation and the conditionality for the protection of the Union’s budget. To shield the budget, the Commission should trigger the mechanism now”.
The EPP group calls on the Commission to further examine “the misuse of funds to the benefit of the Czech Prime Minister, the failure of the Czech administration and the inactivity of the Czech justice system”.
Tomáš Zdechovský (EPP, Czech Republic) called on Mr Babiš to resolve his conflict of interest “by resigning or by selling Agrofert. We also expect you to immediately return over €6 million unlawfully paid to Agrofert “.
Andrej Babiš defends himself. The Czech Prime Minister, for his part, denounced the “repeated lies of auditors’ mafia organised by informants from the Pirate Party”. “The Czech Republic will not return any money”, the Czech leader said, adding that he had no influence on the payment of EU funds.
Link to the audit report: https://bit.ly/3et6Udy (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)