Czech government expected to up budget for EU presidency

The government is set to up the budget for the Czech presidency of the European Union, due in the second half of 2022, the ctk news agency reported, citing a government report. According to the document the 1.2 billion crowns earmarked will not be sufficient, and will require an increase of around 200 million crowns. The document also mentions the need to increase staff by about 30 posts in the civil service and at the permanent representation in Brussels.

According to the original proposal, the Czech Republic was to employ 200 people for the presidency, 58 of them in Brussels. In total, the Czech Republic plans to organize over 260 events in the course of the presidency, among them a summit of prime ministers and presidents at Prague Castle, and an EU-Western Balkans summit at the level of heads of state and government. EU-US and EU-India summits and also being considered.