EU Commission Approves Czechia’s EUR 7 Billion Recovery Plan

The European Commission has approved the Czech Republic’s EUR 7 billion plan to recover from the pandemic and transform the country’s economy into one that is greener and more digital. The scheme will be financed from EU grants until 2026. Once the plan is also approved by EU finance ministers, Czechia will get EUR 910 million in pre-financing for projects.

The funding is part of an initiative under which all the bloc’s 27 nations are to get money from an EU recovery scheme worth EUR 800 billion.

The Commission, which has concluded that Czech prime minister Andrej Babis has a conflict of interest as the final owner of a business empire that receives EU funding, said the Czech Republic needs to improve transparency and prevent such conflicts of interest when distributing funds. Besides audit and controls, the country needs to improve the protection of whistle-blowers, strengthen its judicial system, better collect and analyze data on corruption, and establish lobbying rules, the Commission said.

Czechia plans to spend 42% of its money from the EU to achieve climate-neutrality goals, including investment in renewable energy, modernization of district heating, replacement of coal-fired boilers and improving the energy efficiency of residential and public buildings. The plan also includes measures for nature preservation and water management as well as investment in sustainable mobility. Prague will also invest 22% of the total amount to make the economy more fit for the digital era, including investment in digital infrastructure and the digitalization of public administration, including the health and the justice sector and the administration of construction permits.

Source: Czech Radio