Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has expressed alarm over the country’s rapidly increasing payments to the European Union, warning that the Czech Republic could become a net contributor to the bloc as early as 2029. Following talks with Finance Minister Alena Schillerová, Babiš said Czech payments into the EU budget had risen by 22 billion crowns (€911 million) this year alone. “I was shocked by how much we are paying into the European Union,” he said, as cited by Echo24. Babiš was also asked about next year’s state budget deficit. When asked whether it would exceed this year’s planned shortfall of 310 billion crowns (€12.8 billion), he replied, “Don’t test me.