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The European Parliament is expected to debate the potential conflict of interest of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and vote on a resolution calling for the issue to be resolved.

At a press conference ahead of the debate, the chairwoman of the European Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee Monika Hohelmeier said she was convinced the conflict of interest was real, saying the only solution was for the prime minister to sell his business interests, stop receiving any public subsidies including EU funds, or step down from office.

She also stressed that the Czech Republic lacks a clear system for protecting EU funds against conflicts of interest, which is something that must be addressed.

Czech MEP Tomáš Zdechovský, who was part of the committee’s fact-finding mission to the Czech Republic in February, said he had received numerous threats in connection with his work and had been given police protection.

He has filed two criminal complaints –one against an unknown culprit, the other against the Czech prime minister who labelled him a traitor.

The chairwoman of the European Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee Monika Hohelmeier, has criticized Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’ potential conflict of interest and efforts to intimidate members of the committee who travelled to the Czech Republic in February to gain greater insight into possible mismanagement of EU finances.

Speaking ahead of a European Parliament vote on the Czech prime minister, MEP Hohlmeier said she was convinced the conflict of interest was real, saying the only solution was for the prime minister to sell his business interests, stop receiving any public subsidies including EU funds, or step down from office.

She said Babiš should "fully resolve" his potential conflict of interest before participating in any budget talks. Moreover she and other members of the committee who undertook a fact-finding mission to the Czech Republic pointed out that the Czech Republic lacks a clear system for protecting EU funds against conflicts of interest, which is something that must be addressed.

The Czech prime minister is under scrutiny over millions of euros of EU funds paid to Agrofert, a food, farming, chemicals and media conglomerate he owned, and whose ownership he transferred to two trust funds in 2017.

MEPs are due to vote tomorrow on a resolution calling for the potential conflict of interest by the Czech prime minister to be resolved.

The current license fee rate is supported by 84 percent of the public when it comes to Czech Radio and 81 percent when it comes to Czech Television, according to a newly released large scale survey conducted by polling agencies Median and STEM/MARK. License fees are the main source of income for both broadcasters.

Both Czech Radio and Czech Television also came out as the most trusted news sources in the country according to the survey initiated jointly by the public broadcasters.

Director of Czech Television Petr Dvořák said that, due to recent proposals for radical changes in the financing of public broadcasters, it is necessary to publicly discuss what services public broadcasters should provide and what the impact of revising their financing would be.

A proposal by the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party to cut license fees by CZK 2.1 billion would mean the liquidation of Czech Television, cancelling channels and nearly completely ending the production of any of the television’s programmes. This would mean that Czech Television would not be able to fulfill the services that are required of it by law, the public television director said.

The same proposal would see Czech Radio lose CZK 1.2 billion in annual funds, up to 60 percent of its current budget. Czech Radio Director René Zavoral said this would also mean a cancellation of many of the radio’s channels, large scale downsizing and a drastic limitation in the services it provides.

The license fee rate paid for Czech Radio is currently CZK 45 a month and has not changed since 2005. Adjusted to inflation, it has in fact decreased to roughly CZK 33.

The government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has come under fire from the opposition for dragging its feet on measures aimed at curbing the impacts of drought and soil erosion. Ahead of a debate in the lower house on bills relating to these issues the Pirate Party presented a set of measures for improving water management, sustainable agriculture and a more ecological administration of towns and villages, pointing out that all these changes were long overdue. It is also proposing a series of amendments to the government-proposed bills on the table.

Jan Farsky,  head of the Mayors and Independents group in the lower house, criticized the fact that a planned government decree on measures to prevent soil erosion has been in the making since 2017 and has not yet been implemented. Environment Minister Richard Brabec said it would come into effect next year.

The drought this winter was reported to be the worst in 500 years. The Environment Ministry is now looking for suitable locations to build dozens of new water reservoirs and preparing badly-needed changes to the landscape that would help retain water.