About: Andrej Babis Archives

Four Eastern European countries rejected the EU's latest plans for handling migrants on Thursday (24 September), after talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, and insisted that the plans for tougher new asylum rules do not go far enough.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis vetoed on Thursday (10 September) a Polish proposal to invite Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to Friday’s summit of central European heads of state, saying such a step would be “hasty”.

The major European political groups tolerate corruption and malfeasance among the member parties, says Green MEP Daniel Freund, who also analyses the weaknesses of instruments to fight the misuse of EU funds.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Prague on Tuesday (11 August), public TV footage showed, to open a five-day visit to central Europe with a hefty agenda including China's role in 5G network construction.

Billionaire Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš on Saturday (20 June) accused the European Parliament of "interference" after it pressed for mechanisms to stop the misuse of EU subsidies.

A European Parliament resolution calls for Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to be excluded from EU budget negotiations over alleged conflicts of interest related to EU subsidies received by his former business empire. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Four central European prime ministers called for a "fair" distribution of the EU's massive recovery fund on Thursday (11 June), at what has been dubbed the bloc's first major face-to-face political meeting since the coronavirus lockdown.

Masks and gloves will be the order of the day when the prime ministers of four ex-communist countries on Thursday (11 June) hold the first major face-to-face meeting of European leaders since the coronavirus crisis.

In the UK and in many countries in Central and Eastern Europe leaders have shown lack of respect for the lockdown measures – the EURACTIV network looked into how some prime ministers and presidents have conducted themselves through the pandemic so far.

A draft statement from the Czech government calls on the EU economic recovery plan and long-term budget to fall in line with the European Green Deal, marking a U-turn from Prague's earlier positions.

The European People's Party group called on Wednesday (13 May) for an EU law to prevent oligarchs and land-grabbers drawing on EU subsidies at the expense of small and medium-sized farming businesses. The practice is widespread in countries in Eastern Europe and Italy.

MEPs in charge of controlling EU spending on Thursday (7 May) said Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš should stay out of negotiations towards the bloc's future budget until a probe into a possible conflict of interest was resolved.

The Czech premier, whose country depends on nuclear energy and coal, said Monday (16 March) the European Union should ditch its landmark green law seeking carbon neutrality as it battles the novel coronavirus.

Distribution of EU funds in the Czech Republic faces several weaknesses, including a lack of clear system, said German MEP Monika Hohlmeier (EPP), who led a fact-finding mission of the Budgetary Control (CONT) committee to the country.

The Czech government will fill a lawsuit against the European Commission over the suspension of subsidy payments granted to Agrofert holding, an agrochemical company of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (RE) that is currently managed by trust funds. EURACTIV.cz reports.

Tens of thousands of Czechs rallied in central Prague on Tuesday (10 December) demanding the resignation of populist billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babiš over fraud allegations.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has threatened to veto Europe’s goal of becoming the first climate neutral continent in the world by 2050, adding his voice to a growing chorus of discontent as EU leaders prepare for heated climate discussions at a summit in Brussels next week.

The European Commission has determined that the Czech Republic must return hundreds of millions of crowns in EU subsidies as Prime Minister Andrej Babiš did not sufficiently separate himself from holdings that received the funds, Czech news websites reported.

A European Commission audit has confirmed that Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is in a conflict of interest due to his former business empire that he has put into trust funds, weekly Respekt reported on its …

The Czech Republic's billionaire prime minister expressed regret over his communist past on Sunday (17 November) while Slovakia's liberal president hailed the sacrifices communist-era dissidents made for democracy as their nations celebrated 30 years since the Velvet Revolution toppled communism in then-Czechoslovakia.

Four eastern European Union members on Thursday (12 September) backed the accession of Western Balkan countries to the bloc, saying North Macedonia and Albania should start talks this year.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has scolded Politico for publishing what he said was old and unconfirmed information about a potential rule-of-law portfolio for the Czech Commission candidate Věra Jourová. But he did say this portfolio would be a prestigious one.  EURACTIV Czech Republic reports.

The latest Czech government crisis is over: President Miloš Zeman will appoint Lubomír Zaorálek as the new minister of culture on Tuesday (27 August), ending a dispute over the post that almost caused a collapse of the government. However, the crisis has exposed the deteriorating state of democracy in the country.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš survived a no-confidence vote on 27 June, but his coalition government is torn by internal strife and appears to be nearer the end than at any point in its past 12 months in office.