Final Word from Tuesday, December 4, 2018
The leaked report from the EU Commission's legal team is devastating news not just for Andrej Babiš, but for the entire EU as well. The report documents how Babiš can abuse EU funds to his own commercial benefit. Logically, it also means that any other PM of any EU country is in a position to abuse EU funding for the personal or political gain of himself or anyone else. The report is an admission that the EU is unable to police the use of EU funding and does not even want to, as long as the formal conflict-of-interest rules are observed. This is tantamount to admitting that allowing politicians to abuse EU money is built into the system, as a way for Brussels to buy political support for ideas and projects that no well-meaning, rational person would ever accept. If Babiš turned over Agrofert to a Czech or Slovak "rival," the way Lakshmi Mittal is passing off ArcelorMittal Ostrava to Sanjeev Gupta, there would be no conflict of interest, and everything would be peachy-keen. [ Czech Republic European Union Liberty steel ]
Glossary of difficult words
to police - to enforce the provisions of (a law, agreement, or treaty);
tantamount - equivalent in seriousness to; virtually the same as;
to pass something off - to get rid of something deceptively by giving or selling it to someone as something else;
peachy-keen/peachy - fine; attractive; excellent.