Czech PM: proposal to lower size of EU grants package understandable

During a break in the marathon negotiations on the EU economic recovery fund, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said he understood the concerns of Austria, The Netherlands and the Scandinavian states regarding the size of the grants package distributed and welcomed the proposal to see it cut to 390 billion euros from the original 500 billion. He said this would inevitably reduce the end contribution to all states, including the Czech Republic.

The Czech prime minister has argued in favour of a fair distribution of funds, saying taxpayers in fiscally disciplined countries should not be put on the hook to repay loans that would benefit countries with little or no fiscal prudence, which had been deep in trouble even before the pandemic hit. On the other hand the prime minister stressed that revitalizing the European economy was vital for Czech Republic’s own prosperity.