Babiš Refuses Regions Money for Road Repairs: "You Already Have Enough"

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has confirmed that next year the country's regions will not receive money from the State Transport Infrastructure Fund for repairing second- and third-class roads. According to him, the regions already have plenty of funds in their accounts from the budgetary allocation of tax revenues.

Since 2015, the regions had regularly received this kind of support, but the prime minister stressed that it was always meant as supplementary assistance rather than mandatory funding. The government's stance was revealed last week by Martin Půta, governor of the Liberec Region and head of the transport committee at the Council of the Association of Regions of the Czech Republic. In response, the Ministry of Transport stated that this year the regions will receive more than four billion crowns for specific transport projects, but funding earmarked specifically for repairs is not guaranteed.

"You have enough money — you've got roughly 150 billion crowns sitting in your accounts, so please go ahead and fix those roads yourselves instead of pointing at us. The state has a deficit; you've left us with a 37-billion-crown hole in the motorway budget," Babiš said on Sunday.

The prime minister was referring to data on the financial condition of self-governing bodies for the first half of the year, published by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday. According to this data, regions, municipalities and voluntary associations of municipalities closed the first half of the year with a budget surplus of 60.5 billion crowns — 6.3% lower than a year earlier.

How the Regions' Budgets Look

The regions themselves posted a surplus of 32.1 billion crowns in the first half of 2026, down 8.2% from the previous year's figure, though still the third-highest result on record. Excluding direct spending on education and subsidies to private schools, the financial result came to just 2.4 billion crowns — a year-on-year drop of 42.5%.

Consolidated regional revenues rose by two percent to 220.5 billion crowns, while spending increased by four percent to 188.4 billion. Meanwhile, the regions' combined debt fell slightly to 26.7 billion crowns.

Governors Push Back

Regional governors, particularly those from opposition parties, disagree with the government's decision. According to Radim Holiš, chairman of the Association of Regions of the Czech Republic, the issue of funding for second- and third-class road repairs will be settled at the association's meeting in mid-September. This year the regions requested at least two billion crowns for road repairs, though they considered four billion to be the optimal amount.

The Ministry of Transport rejected accusations that the state does not support the regional road network at all: since 2015, more than 40 billion crowns has been channeled through the State Transport Infrastructure Fund for second- and third-class roads, and this year's fund budget allocates over four billion crowns for specific regional projects.

At the same time, the ministry insists on distinguishing between strategic investment and ongoing property maintenance: lower-class roads are owned by the regions, and in the ministry's view, it is the owners who bear primary responsibility for their upkeep and repair. Support for routine repairs has always been discretionary and supplementary, never an automatic guarantee.

Earlier data from the Ministry of Finance showed that last year the regions closed their budgets with a deficit of 1.6 billion crowns — a swing of 11.5 billion compared with the previous year. Their debt grew by 5.4% to 26.8 billion crowns. At the same time, the regions held 104.4 billion crowns in bank accounts, though these savings also dipped slightly — by one percent over the year.

Source: seznamzpravy.cz