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Fico: If There's Any Fraud in Social Enterprises,Tomanova to Be Held Accountable
Saturday 27 March 2010 Zoom in | Print page
(Slovak Radio, March 27, 'Sobotne dialogy')
Commenting on findings of the European Commission's inspectors in running of the so-called social enterprises, Prime Minister Robert Fico said in an interview on the Slovak Radio on Saturday that if Brussels confirms that no eurofunding will take place in these eight pilot projects because of any fraud or serious violation of laws, he would act, drawing consequences against Social Affairs Minister Viera Tomanova as being held politically accountable.
"However, if the case is that the Commission tells us 'you can't do this in the social enterprises because it violates the laws of economic competition', I see no problem in that," said Fico.
The premier added that social enterprises emerged to create jobs in an attempt to struggle the rising unemployment rate. "When EC says it won't give us money on these job-creation activities, we'll use money from our state budget, and we'll use money from EU funds on something else," explained Fico.
Following the findings of EU inspectors, Tomanova, who launched the eight pilot social projects, is now facing criticism not only from the Opposition, but also from part of the Coalition - blaming her for the shortcomings in the running of the social enterprises, as identified by auditors from Brussels.
According to an unofficial report drawn up by the inspectors, it's suggested not to repay a single cent from the 25 million of euros, the amount that Tomanova's ministry undertook to spend on the social enterprises project. The reason behind their stance is the unpermitted amount of state aid, as 95 percent of the start-up capital for the social enterprises was provided by the state, with EU originally set to reimburse 90 percent of the sum. "The aid for social enterprises is not in accordance with the policies on resources use. Therefore, it's recommended to abolish the financing of social enterprises altogether, and have all costs fully refunded back," says the draft.
Of that amount the Slovak finance ministry has remitted €11.3 million to the accounts of the social enterprises, the bulk of which came from the state budget.
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