Drucker: European Commission Has Reservations about Final Recovery Plan Payments

Brussels, 6 November (TASR-correspondent) - The European Commission (EC) is expected to pay Slovakia the eighth and ninth payments under the Recovery and Resilience Plan by the end of November, but there are still some reservations, said Education Minister and acting Deputy Prime Minister for the Recovery Plan and a Knowledge-based Economy Tomas Drucker (Voice-SD) in Brussels on Friday, admitting that even if the payments are received, some money will probably be withheld, TASR has learnt from its correspondent in Brussels. Along with Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) and Environment Ministry State Secretary Filip Kuffa, Drucker held talks in Brussels on amendments to Slovak legislation aimed at protecting the capercaillie species in connection with the national Recovery Plan. Later on, he also held talks on payments. According to him, an agreement has been reached with the EC that both payments should be disbursed by the end of November. "Of course, there are still some disagreements. We're aware that the EC has some questions, so even if the payments are made, some money may be withheld. We'll continue the discussions," added Drucker. He said that Slovakia can be ranked among the most successful EU-member states in terms of how effectively it's managed to utilise funds from the Recovery Plan. According to Drucker, the EC is criticising Slovakia for the designation of areas suitable for constructing wind farms, even though Brussels agreed to the condition that consent from local governments affected must be required for their construction in the future. "This is part of the legislative amendments that we adopted. Municipalities say that they don't consent to the construction of wind parks. The EC asked us to map out a certain type of territory. We mapped it, submitted it, and today we're debating whether, hypothetically, a power plant with a capacity of 300 megawatts or less could be located on that territory," he said. Drucker stated that these are technical discussions for which Slovakia has already prepared full expert opinions. However, everything remains subject to further talks, with Slovakia clearly indicating its intention to resolve issues rather than leave them for future governments. "This would have an impact on our citizens, because if someone takes money away from us for failing to meet the conditions that we initially agreed to, the Slovak people would lose the opportunity to enjoy newer and modern hospitals, schools and facilities. We'll do everything possible to ensure that Slovakia doesn't lose any money," said Drucker. jrg/df