What Czechia is writing about: Minister wanted to award Šumava cleanup without a tender. The PM stopped him, the Chamber overruled the Senate

According to findings by Deník N, Environment Minister Igor Červený of the Motorists wanted to award the removal of chemical contamination in Šumava, worth nearly two hundred million crowns, without a public tender to the firm Dekonta, whose parent company is partly owned by a member of his own party. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš halted the proposal at a government meeting.

Wednesday in the Czech media also belonged to three other topics. The Chamber of Deputies, with coalition votes, overruled the Senate twice, the European Commission confirmed that it considers the Czech prime minister to be in a potential conflict of interest, and Seznam Zprávy linked the domain of a website covering opposition scandals to a journalist from the Babiš recording.

Minister reportedly wanted to award the Šumava cleanup without a tender

According to findings by Deník N, Červený wanted to use an exemption from the public procurement act and have the removal of chemical contamination in the former military area in the Klatovy region carried out without a standard tender. The document he brought to the government meeting envisaged the cleanup itself costing 192.4 million crowns including tax, plus a further roughly 32.7 million to secure the site. Forum 24 ↗

The case has a political dimension in who owns the firm. Klára Sovová, a member of the Motorists and the party's candidate for Prague mayor, whose term on the holding's supervisory board ended in June, holds a 7.5-percent stake in the parent company Dekonta Holding. Červený denies any connection and claims he did not know about her stake until recently and dealt only with the company's management. According to Deník N, the proposal did not directly name a specific supplier, but before the government meeting the ministry had approached precisely Dekonta, which knows the site from previous surveys. Deník N ↗

Dekonta itself pushed back that day with a public statement. CEO Karel Petrželka said that Sovová is a minority shareholder who was not involved either in deciding on contracts or in running the company, and rejected linking the firm's expert work to political events. iDNES ↗

The outlets also showed that the problem is neither new nor isolated. The mayor of Prášily in Šumava told Deník N that he only learned of the extent of the contamination just before Tuesday's press conference. The head of Šumava National Park told iRozhlas that once the barrels were discovered, it was known there could be more, and Seznam Zprávy noted that there were dozens of sites in Czechia contaminated after the presence of Soviet troops. Deník N ↗ iRozhlas ↗ Seznam Zprávy ↗

The Chamber overruled the Senate twice in one evening

The first law was a deputies' amendment to the building act, defended by Minister for Regional Development Zuzana Mrázová. It introduces a centralized system of state building authorities and a single merged proceeding concluded with one stamp. 104 coalition deputies voted in favor, 53 opposition deputies against, and the debate lasted about five hours of net time. The Senate rejected the bill in August; it will now go to the president for signature. iRozhlas ↗

Criticism also targeted the fact that coalition representatives submitted the amendment as a deputies' bill rather than through the standard government route. Former Minister for Regional Development Ivan Bartoš of the Pirates called it in the Chamber a law tailor-made for developers and its impact a catastrophe. Mrázová countered that the goal was not to favor investors over citizens, but to end a situation in which both run into uncoordinated administrative procedures. iRozhlas ↗

The difference in framing is clearly visible with this law. The economic outlet e15 presented it as a revolution in building proceedings, emphasizing the single stamp and new rules for large housing projects, while Aktuálně built its report around the overruled veto and opposition criticism. e15 ↗ Aktuálně ↗

The second was electronic sales records. Finance Minister Alena Schillerová asked deputies to reject the Senate's amendments, arguing they would reduce the system's effectiveness, and the Chamber obliged her. The removal of cashless payments from the records thus did not go through, and along with the records, the kindergarten fee is also returning. Seznam Zprávy ↗ Novinky ↗

Brussels suspended reimbursement of part of the subsidies, the Czech fund keeps paying

The European Commission has temporarily suspended reimbursement of part of the agricultural subsidies for Agrofert's companies, but the State Agricultural Intervention Fund has not stopped payments and, according to iRozhlas, has not even interrupted the processing of further applications. Its spokesperson Eva Češpiva explained this by saying the fund cannot arbitrarily suspend either the administration or the payment of subsidies, adding that it is preparing an analysis. iRozhlas ↗

Novinky drew a consequence for the state treasury from this. If the Commission ultimately does not approve the payments, the money will already be with the recipient, and the risk will fall on the Czech budget. Respekt summarized it more briefly: the fund is paying out and preparing further payments regardless of what the Commission says. Novinky ↗ Respekt ↗

The conclusion itself was announced to journalists by Commission spokesperson Louise Bogeyová. After a thorough assessment, the Commission concluded that the prime minister is in a potential conflict of interest and that the trust fund into which Agrofert was transferred in February does not sufficiently resolve the situation. Opposition deputy Gabriela Svárovská, co-chair of the Greens, noted in an interview for Radiožurnál that the Commission also mentions the prime minister's ties to the holdings SynBiol and Hartenberg Holding. This is not a new topic — the Commission already asked about SynBiol in the spring — but it has not yet announced specific measures against these two companies. iRozhlas ↗

Registry links domain of website covering opposition scandals to journalist from the Babiš recording

The anonymous profile Thomas Paukner, to whom Foreign Minister Petr Macinka gave an interview in August without verifying who he was talking to, has moved from Facebook to the server Deník P. According to Seznam Zprávy, the historical record of the international registry Whoxy lists former Mladá fronta Dnes journalist Marek Přibil as the domain holder since August 18, the day the site was registered. Today, according to the Czech domain administrator CZ.NIC, the owner is Helena Křesinová of the PR agency Salt&Pepper; it does not list Přibil among previous holders, and his public function does not allow access to earlier records. The domain registration by itself says nothing about who writes the profile. Seznam Zprávy ↗

Přibil's name is known in Czechia from a recording that the anonymous group Julius Šuman published in 2017. It captured his meeting with the then finance minister and today's prime minister Babiš, at which they discussed the timing of the release of materials about ANO movement opponents. The Mafra publishing house belonged to Agrofert at the time, and several journalists left it in protest. Přibil refused to comment on the matter; Forum 24 summed it up by saying he is staying silent about his role. Forum 24 ↗

Inside the coalition: Turek, the Motorists and the budget

While the Motorists are dealing with their minister's contract, iRozhlas wrote on Thursday morning that their honorary president Filip Turek has withdrawn into inner emigration and is becoming radicalized, creating further problems for the prime minister. iRozhlas ↗

In a commentary, Deník N asks why Babiš is bothered by several ministers as well as commissioner Turek, yet does not replace them. In a second commentary, the same outlet writes that the Motorists are losing the battle over the budget, and the question is whether the prime minister will grant them at least a symbolic success. Deník N ↗ Deník N ↗

Under the radar

The daily Hospodářské noviny looked into the background of Chamber Speaker Tomio Okamura's trip to China, which the president raised concerns about, and asks who paid for it and whom he took with him. Hospodářské noviny ↗

According to Hospodářské noviny, mayors and regional governors are worried that the state will increasingly shift part of its expenses onto municipalities, which have money in their accounts. This is happening at a time when the government is facing criticism, including from coalition partners, over the proposed budget deficit of 389 billion crowns. Hospodářské noviny ↗

Ahead of the municipal and Senate elections, iDNES mapped out who is funding the campaigns and noted that some of President Petr Pavel's sponsors sent millions to opposition parties. A model of the Chamber of Deputies election by the NMS agency for the daily Právo, reported on by Aktuálně, gives the ANO movement 31 percent, the Mayors and Independents 18.1 percent, and the ODS 12.2 percent. Aktuálně headlined this by saying the Motorists are out of the game. iDNES ↗ Aktuálně ↗

President Petr Pavel will receive the prime minister on Monday. The topic is expected to be the coordination of foreign policy and the United Nations General Assembly, to which the foreign minister is also flying. Seznam Zprávy ↗

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