The Czech Republic has received 45.6 billion crowns more from the European Union’s budget than it has paid into it in the first half of this year. Of this total, 24.8 billion crowns were revenues from the European Union’s NextGeneration EU support plan, according to a report by the Ministry of Finance. Last year, the Czech Republic’s net position to the EU was 61.2 billion crowns, including money from the recovery plan.
Since it entered the EU in 2004, the Czech Republic has paid 843.7 billion crowns into the European budget and received approximately 1.88 trillion crowns. The total net position during its membership in the EU amounts to 1.03 trillion crowns, which rises to 1.09 trillion crowns when including the revenues from the NGEU.
The continuing favorable net position towards the EU is mainly due to revenues from structural funds and the cohesion fund, amounting to 29.4 billion crowns. From the Common Agricultural Policy, 25.2 billion crowns flowed from the EU budget to the Czech Republic.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the favorable net position towards the EU results from the successful absorption of EU funds, which has also been reflected in the positive balance of the state budget. In June, the state budget received 47.3 billion crowns from EU funds, which helped to reduce the budget deficit to 215.4 billion crowns from May’s 271.4 billion crowns.
Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura has highlighted the success of EU revenues in boosting the Czech economy. He said, “The numbers confirm that EU membership helps us bring money into the economy for investments, especially in times of crisis, when we use classic structural funds and resources from the NextGenerationEU – tools for recovery and resilience through the National Recovery Plan.”
The Czech Republic’s receipt of additional funds for rural development and support for cohesion under the NGEU of 24.8 billion crowns was also noted in the report.