The Czech Republic, when using European subsidies, sets targets incorrectly and is not able to evaluate the real benefits of support
EU Report 2022 — Report on the financial management of EU funds in the Czech Republic (19 October 2022
Today, the SAO issued a report on the financial management of EU funds in the Czech Republic, the so-called EU Report. It assesses how the Czech Republic manages subsidies received from the EU for various projects. The evaluation is based mainly on 13 SAO audits, the results of which were published between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022. The auditors found that the persistent problem in the use of European subsidies was the incorrect setting of the objectives to be achieved, and the insufficiently set criteria for assessing the real benefits of the support. The level of shortcomings in the management and control of programmes decreased by half compared to the previous period. However, a significant proportion of ineligible expenditure is a persistent problem. The number of these cases increased by more than 64.5% year-on-year. Ineligible expenses, i.e. those which should not have been reimbursed because they did not fulfil the conditions of the programme, has thus become the most numerous category of infringements in the monitored period.
“I've already pointed this out, and I have to repeat it: We cannot afford to finance projects whose benefits cannot be clearly measured. In that case, we are wasting subsidies," said Miloslav Kala, president of the SAO.
Another factor affecting the efficiency of especially investment projects was the postponement of implementation or the late completion of subsequent projects. The long-term problem remains the selection of suitable projects and the lengthening of their administration time.
In the monitored period, the SAO carried out a total of 13 audits related, in whole or in part to EU funds earmarked for the Czech Republic, which is more than a third of all audits carried out during the year. In their course, the SAO audited a total of 78 entities and recorded a total of 417 audit findings. The volume of identified deficiencies quantified at the project level reached CZK 142 million.
As the report further states, the Czech Republic is still one of the net beneficiaries, i.e. EU Member States that receive more money from the EU budget than they pay to it. According to data from the European Commission, the Czech Republic has paid EUR 2.27 billion to the EU budget for 2020, and received EUR 5.5 billion from the EU budget.
Communication DepartmentSupreme Audit Office