The 177th plenary session of the Economic and Social Agreement Council was held at the Straka Academy. The members of the Tripartite discussed, among other things, the draft state budget of the Czech Republic for next year, the preparation of the next programming period of European funds or the current situation in agriculture, and also got acquainted with the current state assistance in the liquidation of the consequences of September's devastating floods.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Economic and Social Agreement Council discussed a draft agreement under which the state provides annual contribution to trade unions and employers' organisations to promote mutual negotiations at national or regional level concerning important interests of workers, in particular economic, production, working, wage and social conditions. The social partners quantified their needs at CZK 32,116,284 and the government discussed and approved their proposal at its meeting on 28 August. Nothing therefore prevented the tripartite from agreeing and concluding the agreement for 2025.
Members of the government then informed the social partners about the progress to date assistance provided by the state to citizens, businesses and local governments affected by the recent devastating floods. For example, the government of Petr Fiala approved assistance to employers with the payment of wage expenses to employees who had to stay at home due to the flood. The government also approved the launch of several subsidy programmes to help local governments or damaged farmers rebuild damaged areas, approved the transfer of land in safe zones free of charge so that municipalities could start building replacement housing for people whose homes had been taken or damaged by the water, and deployed soldiers and firefighters to work on repairing the damage. Among other things, it provided people whose houses or apartments were washed away by the flood with an emergency aid benefit of up to CZK 72 000 per household.
The members of the Tripartite then discussed preparations for the new programming period of European funds after 2028. The main priorities of the Czech Republic for the cohesion policy after 2027 are, among others, maintaining a strong cohesion policy, supporting the linking of reforms with strategic investments or effective support for regions, including increased emphasis on structurally affected regions or simplification of the administration associated with the provision of European subsidies. With specific debates on the shape of the future programming period, the government now awaits the formation of the new European Commission after the recent European Parliament elections.
The Tripartite also took note of the final the draft law on the state budget of the Czech Republic for next year as the government sent it to the Chamber of Deputies. The draft state budget envisages record spending on investment, education and science support, while fulfilling the government's commitment to consolidate public budgets and reduce budget deficits.
The members of the tripartite also heard a report on the situation in agriculture and the use of subsidies. Czech agriculture has to cope with the effects of climate change, new geopolitical changes and tensions, or even a long-term labour shortage. In spite of this, it is succeeding in increasing its productivity; about one third of Czech enterprises have good, EU-competitive performance and profitability in the main commodities. Although the value of the agricultural sector's output fell to CZK 176.9 billion year-on-year in 2023 due to a decline in crop production, Czech agricultural trade grew by 9.1 per cent and exports by 11.4 per cent. For 2025, the government will increase the amount of money for agricultural national subsidies from the state budget by two billion compared to 2024, of which 750 million will be allocated for programmes under the Support and Guarantee Agricultural and Forestry Fund.
Government of the Czech Republic/ gnews - RoZ
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