Banska Bystrica: 144 Municipalities Meet with Ministers Takac and Migal

Banska Bystrica, 26 June (TASR) - A meeting of representatives of local authorities with the agriculture and investments ministers was held in Banska Bystrica on Thursday, with more than 140 mayors from the Banska Bystrica region discussing with Richard Takac (Smer-SD) and Samuel Migal (Independent) mainly the use of EU funds, TASR has learnt at their press conference on the same day. The ministers met with 144 mayors from eight districts of the region in Banska Bystrica, with the blocking of €200 million from EU funds being one of the main topics. "They won't lose any of the money from the EU-fund package, which is intended for the regions. We're taking all steps to ensure that the money, which is blocked for the time being, may be unblocked in a short time," said Investments Minister Migal. According to him, the Investments Ministry signed contracts with representatives of municipalities for specific projects with a total value of approximately €7.3 million. "We've managed to accelerate the absorption by half over three months, from less than 5 percent to almost 9 percent today," stated Migal. Agriculture Minister Takac reported that he talked to the mayors about, for example, the Agricultural Payments Agency and the launch of local action groups, which provide subsidies mainly to smaller municipalities. This year, the submission of applications through the local action groups has been extended until the end of October, with €140 million allocated for projects. am/mcs