Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko has announced plans for a comprehensive audit of the state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom and other public companies, stepping up the government’s fight against allegations of corruption in the country (15:37).
Her comments come after a call between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German chancellor Friedrich Merz in which they stressed the importance of fighting corruption in the wartorn EU candidate country (11:52, 11:57, 14:20).
But the European Commission appeared to offer its support to Ukraine, saying the recent investigation involving two ministers in Zelenskyy’s government showed that the country’s anti-graft institutions worked as intended (13:07).
But leaders in Ukraine’s loudest critic within the EU, Hungary, jumped on the allegations to argue that the EU should stop sending money to the country (12:21).
In other news,
EU finance and economy ministers further discussed the bloc’s plans for a €140bn reparations loan for Ukraine, which are stalled amid concerns about associated legal risks (9:37, 10:01, 10:13, 14:46, 14:48, 14:59, 15:02).
The Dutch parliament has approved representatives of the centrist D66 and the centre-right CDA parties as “informateurs” to lead the next stage of the government-forming talks until mid-December, but party leaders conceded that there was no clear coalition emerging just yet (10:25, 10:35, 10:45, 11:04).
Marking the anniversary of the 2015 Paris terror attacks that killed 130 people, French president Emmanuel Macron has paid tribute to the victims saying that “the pain remains” ten years on (11:46, 14:37)
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
‘Trumpist’ Czech PM-elect refuses to sell business empire amid conflict-of-interest row
Andrej Babiš, the self-proclaimed “Trumpist” billionaire who won last month’s Czech election, has refused to sell his huge business empire, but insisted he will resolve a conflict of interest that threatens to bar him from becoming prime minister.
Babiš, whose ANO party finished a comfortable first in the October vote but failed to secure a majority in parliament, said in a social media post on Thursday he would not sell his Agrofert farming, food processing and chemicals conglomerate.
“I have repeatedly said I will never sell Agrofert. I have repeatedly said I will resolve the conflict of interest in accordance with Czech and European laws,” Babiš, whose net worth is estimated $3.9bn (£2.9bn), said. “This is not like selling a roll in a bakery.”
The Czech president, Petr Pavel, said on Wednesday that the 71-year-old populist must explain publicly how he will eliminate conflicts of interest arising from his business activities before he can be appointed prime minister.
The Czech constitution “explicitly requires the president to take into account the possible emergence of a conflict of interest and the possibilities for its resolution” when considering who to appoint as government ministers, Pavel’s office said.
The president “wants it to be clear in what specific way Andrej Babiš will fulfil his constitutional and legal obligations”, the statement said, adding that Pavel was ready to appoint Babiš as prime minister “without delay” as soon as the issue was resolved.
Babiš’s several hundred companies, most under the Agrofert umbrella, operate in the Czech Republic and other central European countries, benefiting from tens of millions of euros in national and EU farming and other subsidies, as well as public contracts.
Under Czech law, government ministers cannot receive public aid or contracts. The corruption watchdog Transparency International has said that to avoid a conflict of interest Babiš must either sell, refuse public contracts, or stay out of government.
Babiš said he would “abide by the laws” if he was appointed prime minister, but did not want to explain how in advance because the issue was “an extremely sensitive and personal matter for me, and journalists will always criticise me anyway”.
During his first term as prime minister, from 2017 to 2021, Babiš faced several legal battles and an EU investigation over potential conflicts of interest. He temporarily moved his assets to trust funds, while retaining some influence over them.
A court and the European Commission both ruled that this was insufficient. Babiš confirmed last month that he was again the sole owner of Agrofert and insisted he was “taking steps” to avoid a conflict of interest, but refused to disclose details.
