Takac: We're Filing Criminal Complaint for Failure to Deal with Bark Beetles

Bratislava, May 14 (TASR) - Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) and coalition MP Rudolf Huliak (Slovak National Party/SNS) have filed a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator for failing to address the bark beetle natural disaster, TASR learnt at their press conference on Tuesday. They stressed that hundreds of thousands of hectares have been attacked and added that this is a long-standing situation that hasn't been dealt with. "The situation is so critical that the bark beetle infestations have already affected the surrounding districts, where an emergency situation was declared, that is not only in Cierny Balog [Brezno district], but also in the districts of Detva and Revuca [all Banska Bystrica region]," said Takac. According to him, the natural disaster was critical back in 2021 and 2022, when the harvesting of the infested trees should have started as they now represent a seedbed allowing the further advance of the bark beetle. "Agriculture Minister Takac is planning the most massive felling in recent years in Cierny Balog. They plan to cut one million cubic metres of wood. However, he's unwilling to take responsibility for this, so he has come up with a cover-up manoeuvre via a criminal complaint for the bark beetle natural disaster," MEP Martin Hojsik (Progressive Slovakia/PS) said in response. According to Hojsik, the natural disaster in Cierny Balog is a failure of forestry practices that have failed to respond to the environmental challenges of our time. The minister's attempts are supposed to be just an excuse. In the past, the Prosecutor General's Office assessed similar criminal complaints as unfounded. am/mcs