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. “If in one year we are told that we will pay 22 billion more, that is a lot.”

Officials currently expect the Czech Republic to become a net contributor to the EU budget for the first time in its history in either 2029 or 2030.

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. I don’t know what the deficit will be.”

Schillerová said a reliable estimate would only be possible after the Finance Ministry publishes its updated economic forecast next month.

The government has informed the European Commission that it expects next year’s structural deficit to reach as much as 2.9 percent of GDP, compared with 2.4 percent this year. According to Schillerová, Brussels has provisionally accepted the higher ceiling.

“We have to invest in hospitals, highways and bypasses,” he said, justifying the overspend but maintaining that the deficit should remain significantly below 400 billion crowns (€16.6 billion).

Planned spending includes psychiatric hospitals, surgical facilities, oncology centers, highways and city bypasses. The government also intends to maintain defense expenditure at 2 percent of GDP.