The European Commission has ruled that Czechia must recover unlawful state aid granted to several large agricultural holdings in 2018, following an in-depth investigation that found the subsidies breached EU rules on state aid.
The case concerns insurance support designed to help crop and livestock farmers protect themselves against natural disasters and adverse weather events.
The Czech government had allocated CZK 690 million, roughly €25.8 million at the time, from the state budget to fund the program. However, the Commission found that some recipients were ineligible.
In a press release on Tuesday, the Commission stated that Czech authorities wrongly classified certain large agricultural companies as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), allowing them to receive subsidies they were not entitled to under the 2014 Guidelines for State aid in agriculture, forestry, and rural areas.
“An in-depth investigation carried out by the Commission confirmed that some large agricultural companies were wrongly classified as small and medium-sized enterprises by the Czech authorities and therefore received support without meeting the conditions of the agricultural guidelines,” the Commission said in a statement.
As a result, the Czech government is now legally required to recover the misallocated funds in order to restore fair competition in the internal market.
The recovery of incompatible state aid is a standard procedure under EU law and aims to remove any advantage gained through the unlawful payments.
The Commission emphasized that interest must also be collected on the recovered funds to fully offset the competitive distortion caused by the aid.
The post EU orders Czech Republic to recover millions in unlawful agricultural subsidies appeared first on Remix News.
Remix News
