Slovak News Back to the news
SMK Blasts Slovakia's Drawing of EU Funds as Abysmal
Tuesday 13 April 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, April 13 (TASR) - The ethnic-Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) on Tuesday criticised Slovakia's efficiency in drawing European Union funds as abysmal as the middle of 2007-13 programme period approaches.
"According to the Finance Ministry's analysis, as of this day Slovakia has drawn 6.1 percent or €692 million of the total €11.4 billion," Deputy SMK Chairman Ivan Farkas told reporters on Tuesday.
"Based on these abysmal results Slovakia ranks 25th among the EU27, trailed only by Romania and Greece," said Farkas. Excuses do not hold water here since, for example, Belgium, the front-runner in EU funds-drawing efficiency, has taken out 61 percent.
As a result of this situation Slovakia has become a net donor to the EU – in other words, it is paying more into the European Union than it is are drawing out of it. "This is alarming and it can still get worse. Let us have no illusions," he says.
By comparison, in the previous 2004-06 programme period Slovakia had long been ranked 2nd and 3rd among EU25. "As of June 2009, when we completed the drawing from 2004-06 period, we have been net donors into the EU budget," he said, adding that prior to that Slovakia had been a net recipient.
Farkas put down the shabby drawing of EU funds to the initial infighting of the current ruling coalition in 2006, which resulted in a one-year delay in the National Strategic Reference Frame approval. Other causes, he says, are the outright ineptitude of state officials, corruption, cronyism and politicking.
The Ministry of Construction and Regional Development denies Farkas's assertion, saying that the real figure for Slovakia's rate of drawing is 42 percent (approved as of April 7).
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.
