Babis dismisses criticism of preparation for EU presidency

The signatories of the appeal criticising the planned budget of the Czech Republic's EU presidency and small attention paid to it by the government are only motivated politically, Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) told journalists. The appeal was signed by some economists and other personalities. They have called on the government to maximally use the opportunity. The Czech Republic will take up the EU presidency in the second half of next year. Its budget will be 1.24 billion crowns, roughly one-third of that in 2009.