European Commission yet to decide on suspending Agrofert's EU subsidies over Babiš

The European Commission has not yet made a formal decision to suspend or exclude payments to Agrofert, the holding linked to Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Czech Agriculture Minister Šebestyán said. According to him, this is only an informal, interim procedural step, not a decision on the merits — the Commission has six months to reach its final position.

What the Commission has actually done

"What the Commission has actually done is an informal, preliminary step of a procedural nature. It has not issued any decision to suspend or exclude payments. Of course, Czechia and the State Agricultural Intervention Fund (SZIF) would have to respond immediately if it did," Šebestyán said. As a result, he added, SZIF currently cannot halt the payments on its own.

The possible suspension in question concerns only rural development support from the EAFRD fund. It does not affect the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF), which pays farmers direct subsidies: according to the minister, the Commission sees no risk of a conflict of interest in that area, or considers it minimal, and is therefore continuing to reimburse Czechia for funds already paid out.

Brussels' complaints about Babiš

In a letter to the Czech authorities, the Commission stated that it considers the measures taken to address Babiš's potential conflict of interest to be insufficient. It noted that the potential beneficiaries of the newly created RSVP Trust are Babiš's children, while the prime minister himself, according to the Commission, has access to information about the trust's holdings. Babiš transferred Agrofert into the trust in February this year and maintains that he does not own the holding.

Agrofert itself insists it acted in accordance with the law. Babiš has previously said he does not own Agrofert, and that the Commission's position on a possible conflict of interest does not concern him. The Czech opposition, for its part, says the prime minister has misled both the president and the country's citizens on the conflict-of-interest issue.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz