The SAO President: The current trend in the management of public funds is unsustainable

PRESS RELEASE ON THE VISIT OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ECA, OLAF AND EPPO AT THE SAO HEADQUARTERS – 19 and 20 October 2026

“We live under the illusion that we can afford everything. We spend money without regard for the results. The trend in the Czech Republic’s national debt, which has now exceeded four trillion crowns, shows that we are far from being able to afford everything and that the current trend in the management of public funds is unsustainable. The same applies to the subsidy system. But we do not want to make savings yet; everyone wants to draw on these funds.” This is how Miloslav Kala, President of the Supreme Audit Office (SAO), summarised the current economic situation in the Czech Republic at a meeting with representatives of the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which took place on 19 and 20 October 2026 at the SAO’s headquarters in Prague.

The SAO President also praised the work of Czech representatives in European institutions. “The Czech Republic has many brilliant and capable people in prominent positions within key European institutions. We are proud of what you have achieved, and we look forward to continuing to work with you and inspire one another,” he said. Among the guests was also Director-General of OLAF Petr Klement, European Public Prosecutor Pavel Zeman, and a member of the ECA Jan Gregor.

“We live in difficult times. The Western World was accustomed to dominating economically, technologically and ideologically. None of that holds true anymore, and I do not feel that we are behaving accordingly. We are promising a painless transition and guaranteed prosperity. Yet we have lost all the prerequisites for achieving them,” continued Miloslav Kala. According to the SAO President, this is precisely how we in the Czech Republic are treating European subsidies: without any pressure to be efficient, ignoring the true purpose of European support, and with the sole aim of spending the money.

The President based his assessment on the findings of audits carried out by the SAO, which, in his view, repeatedly highlight a weak link between the funds spent and the actual results. As an example, he cited the digitalisation of public administrations. Although the Czech Republic spends tens of CZK billions on this every year, by the end of January 2025 only 18% of registered administrative services had been fully digitalised. “We are attempting to digitalise an open-air museum. The main barrier is a lack of understanding of clients’ needs,” said Miloslav Kala.

The programme to encourage the shift of freight transport from road to rail and waterways met with a similar fate. More than CZK 650 million was spent over a five-year period, only to find that the volume of goods transported by rail and waterways fell during that time.

The SAO President cited the system for checking the weight of lorries as an example of a project with minimal impact. Although hundreds of thousands of weight-related offences were recorded, the number of fines imposed was low and overloaded lorries continued to travel on Czech roads. The Czech Republic had the ambition to rank among Europe’s Innovation Leaders, and, over the past seven years, it has allocated over CZK 300 billion from public funds to science, research and innovation. Yet, the number of Czech patents is falling, and the citation rate of our scientists is less than half the European average.

Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office

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