Prague - The Czech Republic's troubles with EU funds are getting deeper. Czech PM Petr Nečas has been warned by European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn who is in charge of the EU's development programs.
The Czech Republic is entitled to CZK 800 billion from EU funds by 2013, but EU auditors have found serious flaws in how the funds are being used in the country.
PM Nečas confirmed he had spoken to Commissioner Hahn. "It is true, on Tuesday (March 6) I had a phone call with Mr Commissioner Johannes Hahn," Nečas said to Aktualne.cz, adding that the irregularities in how the Czech Republic manages EU funds were one of the discussed topics.
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"The key problem is the operation of the Finance Ministry's auditory system," said Nečas.
This means that the situation is really serious. The so-called Auditory Body is a department of the Czech Finance Ministry that is responsible for the overall control of EU funds. Brussels is thus concerned about how all EU programs are managed and controlled in the Czech Republic.
The phone call prompted the Czech state to send senior officials responsible for managing EU funds to Brussels to discuss the issue.
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The phone call from Brussels came as the EU's auditors are finalizing a report on how the Czech Republic handled EU funds in 2011. And Commissionaire Hahn surely has a preliminary draft of the report at his disposal.
Also, the European Court of Auditors will produce a similar report before the end of April. If both reports are critical, the EU may freeze funds for the Czech Republic altogether, or at least in some programs.
In 2008, the EU suspended its aid to Bulgaria because of corruption, bad management and organized crime.
