Andrea Marková posts - Czech Points

Andrea Marková

May 22, 2019 Europe

Pirates sue European Commission for inaction in Babis's conflict of interest case

Pirates sue European Commission for inaction in Babis's conflict of interest case - Czech Points

Pirates have decided to sue the European Commission for Inaction due to the fact that it has not yet decided on complaints concerning the alleged conflict of interests of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and EU subsidies for Agrofert. They announced it today in a press release. The action will be dealt with by the European Court of Justice.

“The European Commission continues to refuse to evaluate the conflict of interest violations of the Financial Regulation,” Pirates said. In their view, the Commission should have decided on a suspected conflict of interest in January. “The Commission treats unfamiliar reasons for Andrej Babiš for unknown reasons , and therefore the European Court of Justice has to intervene and decide definitively,” said Pirate chairman Ivan Bartoš .

In addition, the Commission has not yet responded to the call of the Pirates at the beginning of March, although it should have done so within two months, in breach of the EU rules anchored in the Treaties. Today, an unnamed “European Commission representative from DG Budget”, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Budget, confirmed this violation to Pirates.

The suspicion that Babiš violated the EU conflict of interest regulation in force since last August was raised last year by the non-governmental organization Transparency International CR. According to her, Babiš can influence the holding even after inserting Agrofert into the trust funds. At the same time, he has a prime influence on negotiations on the form of the European budget and on the distribution of European subsidies in the Czech Republic. Babiš repeatedly refused.