Ministry of Environment Distributes Nearly €600 Million from EU via Slovakia Program

Bratislava – The Ministry of Environment (MŽP) of the Slovak Republic has dedicated nearly 600 million euros from EU funds through the Slovakia Program. Over the past year, there has been a remarkable 28-fold increase in the pace of disbursements for the renovation of family homes under the “Obnov dom” program, which is financed by the national Recovery and Resilience Plan approved by the EU, according to information released by the environmental communication department to TASR.

As reported by the environmental department, 31 calls for applications have been made under the Slovakia Program, amounting to over 1.2 billion euros, which constitutes about two-thirds of the budget allocated to the department. Currently, MŽP has more than 390 million euros contracted, with projects worth over 200 million euros pending contract signing.

The Slovak Environmental Agency (SAŽP) has taken steps to accelerate disbursement, optimize processes, and enhance its workforce to assess and evaluate applications, while also reducing the number of contractors involved.

According to MŽP, the average waiting time for financial contributions has decreased from 12 months to just four months. Juraj Moravčík, director of SAŽP, noted a significant rise in the number of contracted projects.

“At the end of last year, we had processed just over 4,000 contracts, and now we have five times that number in our register—approximately 20,000 contracts. Furthermore, payment requests in the latter half of 2024 surged by 60 percent compared to the first half. In November alone, we processed nearly 400 payment requests each week,” Moravčík reported.

MŽP aims for the “Obnov dom” program to enhance the energy efficiency of over 25,000 family homes by the end of 2026. “We have received applications nearing 80 percent of our target. SAŽP plans to process up to 6,000 applications by the end of this year, and anticipates fulfilling the Recovery and Resilience Plan’s goals by processing an additional 7,000 payment requests by the end of April 2025,” concluded the environmental department. (November 12)