Remisova: Analysis of Drawing EU Funds at Agriculture Ministry Useless

Bratislava, 6 August (TASR) - The Agriculture Ministry made another dubious deal when it hired a private consulting firm to analyse and assess the current state of drawing EU funds, opposition MPs Veronika Remisova and Rastislav Kratky (both 'Slovakia' party, For the People and the Christian Union/KU) told a news conference on Wednesday, adding that the ministry paid over €168,560 for this service. "The company itself on its website says that its core business is strategic documents for developing transport at the national level. So now this company, which specialises in railways and was receiving orders from rail companies, will advise Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) on what to do in order to use up hundreds of millions of euros from EU funds that the ministry is supposed to draw within four months," said Remisova. According to Remisova, another discrepancy is that the analysis should have originally been prepared by 1 June, but the ministry eventually extended the deadline until 1 August. "Such an analysis makes no sense, as Takac doesn't have much time left to draw the EU funds, only until the end of the year. According to data from the European Commission, the Agriculture Ministry still has 25 percent of the allocation to draw. If it fails to do so, Slovakia will lose this money for farmers," stated Remisova, calling on Takac to publish the analysis of the consulting firm and its results. All ministries have regular reports on how they are drawing EU funds, stated Kratky, adding that either chaos rules at the Agriculture Ministry, or its information systems aren't working. ko/df