The city of Shanghai’s city government announced the suspension of official communication with Prague. Shanghai’s retaliatory move is in response to Prague signing a sister-city agreement with Taipei, Taiwan. Shortly after terminating a similar agreement with Beijing. Reuters reports on the spat, excerpt below. While Czech President Milos Zeman has pushed ties with China, he […]
The European Commission wants the Czech Republic to return 1.16 billion crowns paid out in agricultural subsidies, iROZHLAS.cz reports. The sanction is based on an audit that took place three years ago. At the time, the auditors examined the introduction of the so-called active farmer institute to determine whether the subsidies were actually used by farmers. According […]
Czech Senator Lukáš Wagenknecht has contacted banks in Austria, Slovakia and Germany to investigate Agrofert loans. The Senator is seeking details on how Agrofert operates and whether false ownership information was provided by Agrofert when securing the loans, Neovlivni reports. Senator Lukáš Wagenknecht decided to obtain information on how European banks financing Agrofert in various […]
The second EU audit of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis is complete and has found him once again, in a conflict of interest. Andrej Babis retained control of his business holdings, which continued to receive EU funds after he assumed office. The following article first appeared on the Czech news website Neovlivní.cz. The second of […]
The Chamber of Deputies is considering creating a Commission on Foreign Influence to investigate Home Credit. The move is in response to reports that Petr Kellner’s Home Credit sponsored a covert campaign to improve China’s image in the Czech Republic. C&B billed over 2,000 hours of work from April to August to Home Credit to […]
Prague approved a sister city agreement with Taipei today. The agreement will be signed in January during a visit to the Mayor of Taipei. Mayor Hrib said that the signing of the contract will not jeopardize the partnership agreements with Chinese cities. This year, Prague disagreed with Beijing over a China clause, which resulted in […]
Prime Minister Andrej Babis faces charges again over an alleged $2 million fraud involving European Union subsidies after the country’s chief prosecutor overturned a previous decision to drop the case. Prosecutor General Pavel Zeman announced the move Wednesday after evaluating a September finding to dismiss the charges despite a police recommendation to indict Babis. Zeman […]
The European Commission has determined that Andrej Babis has a conflict of interest under both Czech and EU Law. According to Brussels, Prime Minister Babis is in a conflict of interest. According to the audit, the fact that he influences subsidy policy and at the same time, profits from it through Agrofert, is contrary to […]
A Czech senator’s plan to lead a trade mission to Taiwan has been criticized by the President and Prime Minister. Senate chairman Jaroslav Kubera has drawn the ire of President Milos Zeman and Prime Minister Andrej Babis. Zeman and Babis say Mr. Kubera’s trip will hurt Czech-China relations. And are demanding he cancels it. Kubera […]