Takac: There's Difference between Audit and EC Letter Concerning PPA (2)

Bratislava, 28 April (TASR) - The European Commission's (EC) stance concerning the Agricultural Payment Agency (PPA) isn't identical to the contents of the letter received by the Agriculture Ministry from the EC in connection with an open audit, as "there's a difference", said Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) on Tuesday. Takac added that the ministry received the Slovak version of the EC's letter regarding PPA last Thursday (23 April) and is required to respond within two months. "The DG AGRI director-general promised that they'll make a correction by issuing a different press release in which they'll take up a responsible stance. They say that perhaps there's a gremlin in the works or something, because there's a contradiction, a difference between what's written in the audit, that is, in the partial findings in the letter that we received from the EC, and the EC's press release," said Takac, adding that the DG AGRI director has promised that a new stance will be issued by the EC. Takac also announced that ministry and PPA staff will travel to Brussels. "They'll communicate and clarify certain individual findings. Those findings are not corruption-related, they aren't of a systemic nature, these aren't failures," said Takac, adding that he's bound by an EC regulation not to communicate on audits that are still pending. Takac described the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party's decision to "quote some things from the EC's letter" at a press conference on Monday (27 April) as "completely beyond the pale". In this connection, the possibility of criminal action is being assessed, he stated. He pointed out that it's a "mystery" that opposition parties PS and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) were able to obtain the contents of the letter even before the ministry, as its addressee, received it from the EC. According to Takac, SaS MP Alojz Hlina had them at the press conference, during which he said that an EC letter would arrive within hours. "And, during his press conference, that letter did indeed arrive," added Takac. Responding to the minister's press conference, SaS stated that Takac was once again trying to muddy the waters of an extremely serious situation at PPA by questioning the facts and pretending that the problem doesn't exist. SaS warned that hundreds of millions of euros for Slovak farmers are at stake and that the minister was just attacking everyone around him instead of providing answers. Hlina stressed that Takac failed to disprove the substance of the EC's findings; instead only trying to question the significance of the documents, acting as if no one understands anything. "The minister was again quibbling over what he has or hasn't received. But the word 'request' has a perfectly clear meaning in English. The European Commission is demanding something from Slovakia; it isn't polite pleasantry. This is a serious situation, and the minister cannot brush it off by saying that everyone is lying and that nobody understands what's going on," added Hlina. NOTE: This story has been extended to include the final three paragraphs jrg/df