The European Commission will verify the non-existence of a conflict of interest if Babiš becomes prime minister
Strasbourg/Brussels – If the leader of the ANO movement Andrej Babiš is reappointed as the Czech Prime Minister, the European Commission will carefully examine the situation and verify the absence of a conflict of interest. This was stated by the European Commissioner for Budget Piotr Serafin at today’s meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT). In the past, the Union’s executive has repeatedly addressed the conflict of interest of Andrej Babiš and determined that companies from the Agrofert group improperly received EU subsidies during his government engagement.
The Commissioner responded to a question from one of the attendees, German MEP Daniel Freund from the Greens group, who inquired about the developments in the Czech Republic and the possible conflict of interest of a politician who is likely to be the next head of the Czech cabinet after winning the elections. Babiš was the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 2017 to 2021.
“Monitoring conflicts of interest is a fundamental priority for the Commission in terms of protecting the financial interests of the Union,” stated Serafin. “If Mr. Babiš is reappointed as Prime Minister, the Commission will carefully examine the situation and verify the absence of a conflict of interest,” he added. He reminded that the Commission has conducted several audits of the management and control systems established by the Czech authorities in the past.
The audit report from 2021 found that “the impartial and objective performance of Mr. Babiš’s duties was compromised by the fact that he was involved in decisions that also concerned the Agrofert group, which he owns,” Serafin stated in his prepared remarks. “The Commission has made a number of financial corrections to rectify this situation. And of course, it will continue to monitor the application of the rules regarding conflicts of interest,” the Commissioner added. (October 9)
