Milanova Alleges Unfair Cultural Heritage Grants, Ministry Rejects Criticism

Bratislava, 22 July (TASR) - The Culture Ministry is putting the protection and restoration of cultural heritage sites in peril not only through budget cuts within grant programmes and poor management of calls for applications, but also through decisions that have raised concerns over the fairness of financial support allocation, ex-culture minister Natalia Milanova ('Slovakia') said on Wednesday. Milanova referred to the results of evaluations of applications submitted under a sub-programme titled 'Comprehensive Restoration of National Cultural Monuments with a Focus on Protection and Renewal'. She specifically pinpointed the support for the 'Sovi dom' (Owl House) project, which allegedly received the second-lowest score among the 20 evaluated applications. "Despite this, it received a subsidy of €700,000, the second-highest amount in the entire programme," she pointed out. "It's unacceptable for projects with some of the lowest scores to receive hundreds of thousands of euros in subsidies, while high-quality and well-prepared projects in Presov, Hlohovec (Trnava region), or the villages of Zborov (Presov region) and Klastor pod Znievom (Zilina region) received nothing," stressed Milanova. Regarding the preservation of cultural monuments, she criticised the reduction of total funding for the 'Renew Your House' scheme from €14.7 million in 2023 to the current amount exceeding €8.2 million. "The number of supported projects has been reduced by approximately half," said Milanova, adding that the situation is exacerbated by delayed processing and evaluation of calls, leaving successful applicants with insufficient time during the calendar year to implement the planned projects once the funds arrive. In its response provided to TASR, the Culture Ministry noted that applicants were notified of the date on which the results would be published in advance. "When the calls for the 'Renew Your House' scheme were announced in January, the ministry informed applicants under point 16 of the individual calls that results would be published no later than 31 July 2026," stated the ministry. "The evaluation of applications has now been completed, and final administrative steps required to conclude the process are underway. Results will be published in accordance with the deadline stated in the calls," stated Petra Demkova, head of the ministry's communications department. Regarding the reduced funding under the 'Renew Your House' scheme, the ministry explained that its overall subsidy budget had to be reduced due to the adopted consolidation measures. jrg