MEPs debate with Council and Commission about the findings on the breach of conflict of interest rules involving Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels. Statements by Augusto SANTOS SILVA, Portuguese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Johannes HAHN, European Commissioner for Budget and Administration, Monika HOHLMEIER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Lara WOLTERS (S&D, NL), Mikuláš PEKSA (Greens/EFA, CZ), Zdzisław KRASNODĘBSKI (ECR, PL), and Sabrina PIGNEDOLI (NI, IT).

Brussels

statement

debate

plenary session

KRASNODĘBSKI, Zdzisław (ECR, PL)

HAHN, Johannes (AT, EC)

HOHLMEIER, Monika (EPP, DE)

EU - Czechia (T)

avoiding conflicts of interest (T)

PEKSA, Mikuláš (Greens/EFA, CZ)

PIGNEDOLI, Sabrina (NI, IT)

WOLTERS, Lara (S&D, NL)

SANTOS SILVA, Augusto (PT)

The conflict of interest of the Czech Prime Minister: extracts from the debate

Title: The conflict of interest of the Czech Prime Minister: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Augusto SANTOS SILVA, Portuguese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, It really essential that we protect the financial interests of the union and we must guarantee that our taxpayers' money is used in the correct way. Every instrument to that serves to. Protect the financial interests of the Union and to ensure that our taxpayers' money and is spent correctly.

SOUNDBITE (English), Johannes HAHN, European Commissioner for Budget and Administration, Unresolved conflict of interest affects the credibility of the union. And this is why we have taken and have planned a number of measures to deal with.

SOUNDBITE (English), Johannes HAHN, European Commissioner for Budget and Administration, No expenditure was so far declared for any of the operations affected by this audit. Therefore, the Union budget has been and remains fully protected.

SOUNDBITE (English), Johannes HAHN, European Commissioner for Budget and Administration, The aim is to establish the financial consequences of the audit findings and to agree as far as possible on the corrective measures that need to be implemented.

SOUNDBITE (German), Monika HOHLMEIER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, It is unacceptable to what extent oligarchic structures in the Czech Republic have been developed and have settled and who are actively engaged in continuing to get rich from European funds and they are using legal means for that but also any other tricks.

SOUNDBITE (English), Lara WOLTERS (S&amp;D, NL), The whole situation is painful for Czech citizens who want to stand up for democracy and the rule of law, for the media and the independent institutions that are getting attacked for doing their jobs and for the European project as a whole. Every euro that ends up in the pockets of oligarchs is not being spent on solving our shared European challenges, such as battling the climate crisis, tackling social inequality and investing in recovery from.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Mikul&#225;&#353; PEKSA (Greens/EFA, CZ), We all know that Andr&eacute;s Babić is subject to a conflict of interest. We're saying it out loud. The tech market has been concentrated and Babić has built an economic empire which helps him to gather further riches. This really is a mercenary approach and you can see the results when it comes to the number of victims of the pandemic.

SOUNDBITE (Polish), Zdzis&#322;aw KRASNOD&#280;BSKI (ECR, PL), The issue we're discussing has been around pulverising people in Czech Republic, in Europe for twelve years now. But the commission has been extremely slow to act.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Sabrina PIGNEDOLI (NI, IT), My solidarity goes to the Czech colleagues from the committee who together is Mrs Hohlmeier have worked very hard on the case of the conflict of interest of the Czech Prime Minister. Thanks to them, the Parliament is dealing with this issue, but they've been attacked and threatened in their own country.