PS: Tens to Hundreds of Millions of Euros More from Recovery Plan at Risk

Bratislava, 22 July (TASR) - It's very likely that funds amounting to approximately €50 million from the call that has been scrapped by the Investments, Regional Development and Informatisation Ministry will be lost, the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party told a press conference on Tuesday, adding that tens to hundreds of millions of euros and other investments from the recovery plan are also at risk. "Last week, a call worth around €50 million from the recovery plan for digital transformation was cancelled. I personally think that there won't be enough time for a new call to be launched," said Jan Hargas (PS), noting that the recovery plan ends in the summer of 2026, i.e. in a year's time. "But as it turned out, the problem at the ministry with the recovery plan is much broader," stressed the opposition MP. In making this statement, the party referred to internal communications between the Investments Ministry and the Office of the Vice-premier for the Recovery Plan and the Knowledge-based Economy that Hargas claims to have in his possession. For example, investment in thousands of secure information technologies in the public administration environment, investment in a supercomputer, support for the participation of Slovak entities in cross-border digital projects and investment in the protection of cyberspace are all allegedly under threat. Hargas noted that only three out of 54 projects have been implemented. "We're collecting signatures to convene an extraordinary session of the committee on European affairs at which we plan to summon Vice-premier for the Recovery Plan Peter Kmec [Voice-SD] and the management of the Investments Ministry to provide us and the public with information on what things really look like in terms of the implementation of the recovery plan at the ministry," said Hargas. am/df