“I have repeatedly said that I will not sell Agrofert,” said Babiš, who met with President Petr Pavlo on Wednesday afternoon. He wants Babiš to tell the public how he intends to resolve the conflict of interests.
Babiš recalled in the video that already at the beginning of October, he presented the head of state with several options for solving the situation, which the president confirmed at the time. Neither of them specified the details at the time.
However, Babiš was surprised that “it”, i.e. the way to fulfill the law, according to the Castle, should be said mainly to citizens rather than to the head of state.
“Dear citizens, Mr. President doesn’t want to hear it anymore, but you have to hear it,” Babiš enticed the public to then continue with completely unrelated information about the election result of the ANO movement and the implementation of the program.
I won’t say. Trust me
“Of course, I will resolve the conflict of interests, but this is not the sale of a roll in a store,” said Babiš, adding that he is currently dealing with other concerns, namely the budget, in which, according to ANO representatives, several tens of billions of crowns are missing.
Even this time, the public did not learn how Babiš, who has ambitions to become the head of the ANO, SPD and Motorist government, intends to fulfill the conflict of interest law. This prohibits companies in which a public official has at least a quarter share from access to public contracts, non-entitlement subsidies and investment incentives. They may not own public officials or media such as radio, television or the press. Due to a conflict of interests, companies from the Agrofert holding, which belongs to Babiš, would not be able to draw billions from European subsidies.
The law states that a member of the government must resolve his conflict of interest within 30 days of appointment.
The President warns that if the European Union comes to the conclusion that Babiš is in a conflict of interest, it may also mean a reduction of resources for the Czech Republic as a whole. According to him, there would be a threat that all money from the EU would be delayed or completely blocked. Given that the president appoints the prime minister who forms the future government, Pavel would be jointly responsible for the situation, according to his words.
| How can Babiš resolve his conflict of interests | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Babiš can resolve the conflict of interests by selling the Agrofert holding, which he would probably not be able to do in the required time. Another possibility is to put the company in a blind trust fund, where it would have no influence on their functioning, or to transfer the holding to your children. A variant is, in theory, that Agrofert would give up subsidies and participation in public tenders. |
According to outgoing Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS), the reason for the delay in the new government is precisely the fact that Babiš is unable to resolve his conflict of interests, even though he committed to do so before the elections and is required by law to do so.
“This prevents him from progressing faster in the preparation of the new government,” added Fiala, adding that “Babiš’s desire for subsidies and power is fully confirmed.”
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