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The Prague State Attorney’s Office has halted a four-year-long investigation into suspected fraud by the country's prime minister, Andrej Babiš, and members of his family.

Andrej Babiš was suspected of having illegally acquired EU subsidies to the tune of 2 million euros by changing the status of his Stork’s Nest farm and conference centre. The subsidies were intended to support small and medium-sized businesses, while the Stork’s Nest farm was originally part of Andrej Babis’s multi-billion crown business empire Agrofert.

Chief State Attorney Martin Erazim justified the decision to halt the investigation by saying that at the time of receiving the subsidy the Stork’s Nest centre fulfilled the respective conditions to meet the grant.

The decision may still be reversed by the country’s Supreme State Attorney Pavel Zeman.

He thus upheld an earlier decision by lower-instance State Attorney Jaroslav Šaroch who made a U-turn on the case and proposed halting the investigation two weeks ago.

Several hundred people gathered in the centre of Prague on Monday to demonstrate support for a bill that would permit same-sex marriage in the Czech Republic.

The event in the Lesser Town was organized by the NGO We Are Fair! which has criticized the fact that, although the bill was submitted more that a year ago, the Chamber of Deputies has so far failed to debate it.

The NGO has called for the lower house to debate the bill at its session in mid-October. If approved, it would make the Czech Republic the first post-communist state to permit same-sex marriage.

At a summit of the Visegrad Group states in Prague, the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary praised the outcome of negotiations on the set-up of the new European Commission, saying the V4 had been given important portfolios and would have a strong voice in the European Union.

The Prague summit was also attended by representatives from Western Balkan states, the aim of the joint meeting being to strengthen cooperation between the two regions. The Visegrad group states approved a joint declaration stating support for the EU’s expansion to the Balkans.

Kosovo cancelled participation at the summit in reaction to President Miloš Zeman’s statement in Belgrade that he would try to persuade Czech top officials to retract the country’s recognition of an independent Kosovo.

Prime Minister Babiš said at a press briefing after the talks that he saw no reason to change the Czech Republic’s position on Kosovo, although he was open to debating the matter with the president.

President Miloš Zeman has said he does not consider it wise of the Chinese authorities to boycott Czech cultural events in China, but that he understands their reason for doing so.

Speaking on a visit to Belgrade, the Czech head of state, who has made a big effort to further Czech-Chinese ties, said that the mayor of Prague, Zdeněk Hrib, had “sown the wind, and the whole country was now reaping the whirlwind”.

Mr. Zeman said the Prague mayor was clearly under the impression that he could mould his own foreign policy rejecting the principle of “One China” at Prague City Hall, which was not the case.

In 2016 the then Czech government, which under the Czech Constitution is responsible for moulding the country’s foreign policy, set the ground for a more pragmatic policy line in relation to China signing an agreement on bilateral cooperation that pledged to respect the “One China policy.”