“We are adjusting the rules for the payment of the humanitarian benefit. The state will have better control over whether holders of temporary protection are really entitled to it. We will fight against benefit tourism much more effectively,” announced Minister of the Interior Lubomír Metnar (ANO) at the previous government meeting.
Newly, the foreigner will have to be in the Czech Republic for at least 16 days of the month for which he is applying for the humanitarian benefit intended for refugees in need. He must also work or apply for a job at the employment office if he can. For example, mothers of small children will have an exception.
However, these rules will only apply from January 1, 2028. According to the Ministry of the Interior, it is necessary to ensure a deadline for “the preparation and modification of relevant IT applications as well as the training of employees of the Labor Office and other affected entities”.
The misuse of benefits by refugees is an important topic for the government, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) also spoke about it at the mentioned press conference after the government meeting at the end of May. “There were organized groups here that abused the drawing of social benefits,” he said.
Metnar spoke similarly. “Since the beginning of this year alone, we have detected several hundred cases of abuse, and the police have initiated more than forty criminal prosecutions this year with damages exceeding 18 million crowns. This problem is de facto linked to organized crime,” he described.
“We continuously evaluate the statistics on the misuse of humanitarian benefits, and in the last two years we have registered almost three hundred specific criminal files, which often contain hundreds of partial acts,” police spokesman Ondřej Moravčík told Novinkám. “We will prepare and analyze further interim data during June,” he added.
The law also changes the conditions for temporary protection, thanks to which refugees can reside legally in the Czech Republic. It will cease to exist, for example, if its holder does not stay in the territory of the Republic for more than thirty days, or if he commits a serious criminal activity.
This part of the law should apply from January 1, 2027. Babiš’s cabinet therefore needs to implement the law through the entire legislative process, which includes three readings in the House of Representatives, the Senate and the President’s signature, this year. Normally, this procedure takes almost a year.
The government is in such a hurry with the law that it has not even sent it to the comment procedure, when other ministries and other institutions comment on the proposal and where errors are often discovered and corrected.
“The draft law was not discussed in the comment procedure. According to the petitioner, the exemption from the comment procedure was granted at the meeting of the coalition council,” said Jan Kněžínek, deputy chairman of the Legislative Council of the Government, in his opinion. At least he had the opportunity to comment on the law and suggest corrections. The press is now awaiting discussion in the Chamber of Deputies.
