Zdechovsky: Most Complaints about Abuse of Subsidies Come from Takac's Sector

Prague/Brussels, 27 June (TASR-correspondent) - I can't accept that EU money intended for small and medium-sized farmers has been and apparently still is being misused in Slovakia, Czech MEP Tomas Zdechovsky stated on Friday. In response to Slovak Agriculture Minister Richard Takac's (Smer-SD) criticism concerning the motions submitted to the European authorities he said that most of them had come directly from his ministry. "I can't accept that in Slovakia there has been and, unfortunately, still is a systematic theft of money that was supposed to serve small and medium-sized farmers for their support and stability. Instead, it went to a select few who were linked to the Slovak agricultural agency," the Czech MEP responded to Takac's words, adding that he isn't representing the interests of the Czech Republic, but those of European citizens. Takac criticised Zdechovsky on Friday. According to the minister, his statements disparage Slovakia, its citizens and public institutions, and the MEP is said to be fulfilling his personal ambitions with his activities. He also criticised the motions that Zdechovsky had filed after his visit to Slovakia on suspicion of misuse of European money. "Talking today about more than 2,000 collected motions, of which Mr Zdechovsky, we don't know how, selected more than 300, is just an attempt at self-importance and absolute social irresponsibility unworthy of an MEP," stressed Takac. According to Zdechovsky, however, most of the suggestions for an audit came from Takac's sector. "If we didn't have these suggestions, we wouldn't be able to reach any judgement. But obviously people's annoyance at the theft of funds is great. Thanks to it, we have credible evidence that European money is indeed being misused," he pointed out. The Czech MEP added that in course of a month he received about 2,000 complaints from Slovak citizens, many of which turned out to lack sufficient information. However, in case of 320 of them, he said, there was clear evidence, including recorded conversations between farmers and employees of the Agricultural Payments Agency (PPA), who wanted between 5-25 percent of the total amount from farmers in return for brokering the subsidy. am