European Commission issues EUR 3.3m “fine” to Czechia for mistakes in agriculture funding

The Czech Republic needs to pay EUR 3.3 million (more than CZK 85 million) for mistakes that were committed in the country’s agricultural funding policy, Czech Radio reported on Monday, citing a document published by the European Commission last week. The fee includes a CZK 1.1 million sanction for former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s conflict of interest, the spokeswoman of the State Agricultural Intervention Fund Luďka Raimondová told Czech Radio.

The fine is the result of an audit into the conflict of interest of Mr Babiš which took place at the begging of 2019, when he was still prime minister.

The Czech state could issue a law suit against the decision at the European Court of Justice. Ms Raimondová told Czech Radio that several scenarios of how the state could proceed have been prepared by the State Agricultural Intervention Fund and that it is now waiting on a decision which of these options to take.