“The reimbursement of sums spent on European projects will not resume until October,” reports news website aktualnĕ.cz following discussions between the Czech Ministry of Finance and the European Court of Auditors.
Having received a warning from the EU financial supervisor to the effect that it no longer trusted Czech auditing authorities, Prague decided to suspend its requests for co-financing. In the wake of a control, the Court noted “a high risk” that corrected audit reports supplied to Brussels had had been doctored, because they indicated only negligible issues.
For example, with regard to the transport sector in 2011, Czech experts estimated that only 1.85% of European subsidies had been spent in a manner that did not comply with the rules. However, checks carried out by the Court of Auditors revealed non-compliance in 41.82% of cases.
Having already been placed under supervision by the European Commission, which has suspended EU funding to the country, the Czech Republic risks losing 22bn crowns (€856m),warns Prague daily Lidové Noviny.
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