State Agricultural Intervention Fund has not discontinued subsidy payments to Agrofert

The State Agricultural Intervention Fund (SZIF) continues to pay subsidies to Agrofert and has not stopped processing further applications, Czech Radio reported on Wednesday.

The European Commission announced earlier this week it had suspended payments of some EU subsidies to companies within the Agrofert holding, saying Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) is potentially in a conflict of interest.

According to SZIF spokeswoman Češpiva, however, the European Commission’s decision has not changed the fund’s approach to Agrofert. She said the fund could not suspend the processing or payment of subsidies at its own discretion and must comply with Czech and EU law.