PS: Slovakia Could Lose Nearly €200 million from Recovery Plan

Bratislava, 4 May (TASR) - Slovakia could lose nearly €200 million from its Recovery and Resilience Plan earmarked for the construction of a military hospital in Presov, opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party MPs told a press conference on Monday, calling on the relevant ministers to explain their plans to prevent the loss of €195 million. In May last year, stated PS MP Oskar Dvorak, the government amended the recovery plan to include funding for the Presov hospital. "This is what you negotiated with the European Commission (EC); this is what you wrote in the Recovery Plan that you approved at the government level. This means that the money is there and can only be used for that exact purpose," he explained. Dvorak added that the funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan cannot be spent on the Presov hospital because this type of EU co-financing only applies to hospitals that will reach the "shell and core" stage by 2026. "The hospital in Presov will only reach the shell and core stage in 2027. So, you first negotiate the money under the Recovery Plan only to find out later that you cannot even use it for such hospital," stated Dvorak. According to him, either the funds earmarked for the Presov hospital will be forfeited, or the government will agree with the EC to use the funds elsewhere in the health-care sector or for other buildings, or possibly outside this sector. In its response, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Recovery Plan and a Knowledge-based Economy described the statements made by PS as misleading, stating that the changes in the project have no impact on the availability of such funding. "In the case of the Presov hospital, the government decided that its capacity could become part of compliance with targets, which was conditional upon signing a funding agreement under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, but that did not take place. This, however, doesn't mean that the funds will be lost. The amount of €195 million remains available for eligible hospital construction projects, and may be used until 2028," stated the Office. The Defence Ministry signed a contract last autumn for developing and modernising the university hospital with polyclinic in Presov worth €447.8 million excluding VAT. The contractor is a consortium represented by Bekor. The new hospital is planned as a top-tier medical facility with 1,009 beds, expandable to 1,200, and it's scheduled for completion by 2027 as a strategic investment. Last week, the Defence Ministry has suspended construction of the military hospital due to concerns over the quality of work on key structural elements. Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) admitted that the completion deadline may be delayed. jrg