Bratislava – Recent reports indicate that Slovakia has only utilized three percent of its total allocation of 12.5 billion euros in EU funds. If the pace of fund absorption does not significantly improve, the country risks losing 1.54 billion euros by the end of this year. On Wednesday, Veronika Remišová, an opposition member of the National Council of the SR representing “For the People,” expressed her concern over this alarming trend, as reported by TASR.
Remišová, a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the SR, is critical of the current Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization (MIRRI) led by Richard Raši from the Hlas-SD party.
“Richard Raši has no understanding of how to effectively absorb EU funds. His inactivity is causing Slovakia to forfeit billions that could support science, research, hospitals, schools, and infrastructure,” Remišová stated.
She further noted that the prolonged process of fund absorption is largely due to excessive bureaucratic hurdles in the informatization sector. “It takes at least two to three years from the announcement of a call to the actual drawing of funds. Once a call is published, there are numerous steps—project preparation, submission, evaluation—and the ministry is experiencing significant delays at each stage,” she elaborated.
In reaction to Remišová’s comments, Raši highlighted her lack of action during her own time at MIRRI. He pointed out that under her leadership, it took an average of 25 months from the announcement of a call to the first drawing of EU project funds.
“We have been in the department for just over 15 months and during this time, we have announced 262 calls, which utilize 72% of the available funds. We have received project applications totaling eight billion euros, signed off on projects worth over 4.6 billion euros, and have already started drawing funds, with nearly 400 million euros already accessed,” Raši detailed. (February 5)
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