Euractiv | Moravian-Silesian Region wants to spend "coal billions" on big projects, but they are still risky

The Moravian-Silesian Region is one of the three Czech coal regions that will receive extra money from the European Union. Klára Votavová, a researcher at EUROPEUM Institute, answered questions about the funds intended for the "special needs" of the burdened regions.

"As far as the Ministry for the Environment or the State Fund for the Environment is concerned, the biggest problem was at the beginning in 2021 when, for example, strategic projects were being pre-selected. It was difficult to get systemised positions for the offices and then to fill them, which is also related to the discourse about too many civil servants and insufficiently competitive salaries in the civil service (by Prague standards). In 2023, the situation is said to be more or less stable."

Read the full article here (In Czech).

Klára Votavová
Associate Research Fellow

Expertise: Social policies, EU digital policies, Just Transition, Central and Eastern Europe