The Commission has just confirmed that it is suspending certain payments under Cohesion funding and the European Regional Development Fund to the Czech Prime Minister’s company Agrofert, due to the apparent conflict of interest surrounding Andrej Babiš' (pictured) role as PM and his business holdings. The Czech Prime Minister is the owner of the massive agribusiness, for which he set up a ‘trust’ ahead of becoming Prime Minister for the second time. The Greens/EFA Group have long highlighted the conflict of interests surrounding the Czech Prime Minister.  

Daniel Freund MEP, Greens/EFA Group Coordinator in the Budgetary Control Committee said:  “The Commission has recognized that Czech PM Andrej Babiš is likely in conflict of interest and we applaud that the Commission has finally taken action here. It is totally unacceptable for a prime minister to be negotiating the EU’s next long term budget, when he decides how large a chunk of that money could end up in his own pockets. The trust fund that Babiš set up in no way is enough to prevent a conflict of interest and it’s welcome that the Commission has acknowledged this.  “However, the Czech people should not have to suffer due to the dodgy dealings of their prime minister. It is time that the Commission and Council forces Czechia to ensure that Babiš is not involved in any negotiations around the EU’s long term budget, which may benefit him or his family directly. Either Babiš is head of Agrofert or he’s Czech PM, he can’t have it both ways.” 

Markéta Gregorová, Greens/EFA MEP and Czech Pirate Member of the Committee on International Trade said: “I am glad that the European Commission has finally started addressing Andrej Babiš’ conflict of interest, as it promised in its response to my inquiry. This confirms that we were right to raise the alarm: Babiš has not resolved his conflict of interest, and, frankly, he never genuinely intended to do so. The Commission must now ensure that the rules are enforced and that European taxpayers’ money is protected from any misuse.”

It appears that quite a few people have been killed or brought to justice for having failed to deliver on their promise of turning ordinary metals into gold, in other words, alchemy. One was the English chemist James Price, who took his own life after his deception was exposed. Another was Georg Honauer, whose downfall ended not in disgrace alone but in a spectacular public execution.

Georg Honauer was born in Olomouc, Moravia (now in the Czech Republic), in 1572. In 1596, he entered the service of Friedrich I, Duke of Württemberg, in Stuttgart after persuading the duke that he was both a skilled goldsmith and a successful alchemist.

An etching depicting the execution of the alchemist, Georg Honauer. Credit: Science History Institute

In 1648, as Swedish troops looted Prague Castle at the end of the Thirty Years’ War, someone carried off among the spoils a volume that weighed 75 kilos and required two people to move. It was a book, the largest surviving illuminated manuscript of the entire Middle Ages, an object so disproportionate for its time […]

A team of archaeologists, led by the University of West Bohemia (UWB), has brought to light, near the town of Chleby, in present-day Czech Republic, a monumental structure dating back more than 6,500 years, identified as one of the oldest ritual centers in Central Europe. The first datings on organic material recovered at the site […]