Ústí and Karlovy Vary regions to return 906 million

The regions of Ústí and Karlovy Vary will pay a total of 906 million crowns to the EU instead of 2.1 billion originally demanded for mistakes made in the North-West Regional Operational Programme, the Finance Ministry said on Friday. The ministry has also offered the regions interest-free financial assistance, CTK reported. The agreement could unblock a further amount of money for projects from the suspended programme. The payment should immediately unblock 5.5 billion crowns from EU funds, the Czech News Agency said, citing an earlier statement by Finance Minister Jan Fischer. EU funding has been suspended for over a year.

Author: Jan Velinger