EC threatens it could sue Czech Republic over transport plane deal

The European Commission has threatened it could sue the Czech Republic for failing to respect European Union regulations on public tenders, after the former government opted to buy military transport planes from the EADS consortium without holding a European competition. The decision to buy four CASA C-295M planes was taken by the former centre-right government led by Mirek Topolánek. The current government will have two months to satisfactorily explain steps taken to the European Commission or face possible legal action. The Czech government argued that in this case no tender on the 3.5 billion crown deal was required as the decision was taken in the security interests of the country. However, the European Commission has countered that the necessary conditions for such a step were not met.

Author: Jan Velinger