In brief

• The Czech Ministry of Industry is to be audited by Brussels over a period of ten days.
• The audit concerns the management and control system of the programme Technologie a aplikace pro konkurenceschopnost, from which companies affiliated with Agrofert may receive subsidies.
• According to information, the audit is not to concern Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, whose possible conflict of interest is being examined by the European Commission.

Inspection at the industry ministry

The audit is to last ten days at the Czech Ministry of Industry (Havlíčkův resort čeká audit z Bruselu. Řešit bude program, z nějž žádají dotace také dceřinky Agrofertu – iROZHLAS). It is to check how the management and control system of the operational programme Technologie a aplikace pro konkurenceschopnost works. The visit coincides with a period in which the European Commission is dealing with a possible conflict of interest of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš with ANO. According to information, however, the audit is not to concern the prime minister.

Agrofert companies among applicants

Companies affiliated with the Agrofert group are also applying for funding from the same programme. The matter therefore links the oversight of an EU programme with questions about firms connected to the group, and at the same time with the Commission's proceedings concerning the prime minister. No end date for the audit or publication date for its results has been given. The programme has only an indirect significance for Polish entrepreneurs, because it is Czech. It does, however, show how Brussels monitors how member states spend funds.