The SAO President at meeting with Ambassadors: Next European subsidies should lead to strengthening of EU competitiveness

PRESS RELEASE ON THE SAO MEETING WITH EU AMBASSADORS - 21 March 2025

At the traditional meeting of SAO representatives with EU Ambassadors held on Thursday, 20 March 2025, the SAO President Miloslav Kala spoke about the current use of EU subsidies and how they should be used in the next programming period 2028+ to increase the competitiveness of EU countries. Representatives of 19 countries, including 9 Ambassadors, as well as representatives of the European Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and this year also representatives of the Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic accepted the invitation to the SAO headquarters in Prague.

"Europe is facing its greatest challenges in 70 years. The EU must be seen as an entity that compares itself with the rest of the world, not within itself at the level of individual member states," the SAO President said, adding that while the EU has been stagnating in nominal GDP growth since the 2008/2009 crisis, the other two global economies, the USA and China, have been growing. "We are aware that this curve has to change. We are therefore coming up with recommendations that could make a major contribution to the EU's competitiveness and prosperity," said Miloslav Kala.

According to him, the EU should direct the subsidy funds in the upcoming programming period 2028+ to where Europe has world-class potential. The EU should also reduce administration for both people and companies, invest more in education and create quality job offers. Last but not least, we need to start saving money: "And channel the money into meaningful investments with high added value - from Europe's point of view," said the SAO President Kala.

In the SAO President’s view, this is happening neither in the Czech Republic nor in Europe. He illustrated this with examples from SAO audits which focused on EU funds and which were summarised in the recently published EU report. "We have failed to use the potential of more than one trillion Czech crowns that the Czech Republic has received from EU subsidies over 20 years," said Miloslav Kala. "We have invested CZK 14.6 billion in air quality and it is not improving. We have supported rail transport with more than CZK 48 billion, yet fewer and fewer people are travelling by train and less and less freight is being transported. We are failing to digitalise and then streamline public administration. Yes, we are investing in pavement repairs, but pavement is not the priority that will ensure our growth, the priority that will put the EU among the global power players."

When asked why we spend so much money and support projects that don't make sense, Kala replied, "One reason is the large number of projects and the low financial participation of the beneficiaries. The system has degenerated and is already resistant to any efforts to fix it." He therefore called for a broader and more intensive discussion, which could after all bring more chances for a positive outcome. "As we are now planning how to use the funds in the next programming period 2028+, it is the right time to address these challenges," the SAO President added.

Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office

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