Korupcia oberá štát o pol miliardy eur ročne - EUROREPORT plus

SummaryExcerpt from an Interview with the VicePrime Minister of the Slovak Republic,Ľubomír Vážny■■ This February you met Mr Johannes Hahn,the Commissioner for Regional and MunicipalPolicies, in Brussels, and you discussedthe pressing issues of spending the EU fundsin Slovakia. The talks covered the conclusionsof the Council of Europe, held on 7 – 8 February2013. What have you agreed upon?The talks dealt with the EU fundsspending to the extent of operationalprogrammes classified as risky. Withthe aim to make the EU funds spendingfeasible, Mr Hahn accepted the crisismanagement from the part of the EC asthe accelerating mechanism introduced byus at the national level. The Commission isready to enable us to stick with completionof the EU funds spending designed for2013, free of alteration to regulations thatis a long lasting process.Further to this, the issue of preparingthe Partnership Agreement for the years2014 – 2020 had to be discussed. It isdeemed to be the fundamental documentfor forthcoming programmatic period. It isour wish to make the Euro-funds procedureattractive and allocable with ease to targetgroups where they are needed in Slovakia.The said document will comprise thoserequirements determined under the ECterms.■■ The problem with the EU funds spendinghas been raised since the beginning of theprogrammatic period. How to avoid such anoccurrence not to let it repeated twice?It is tough. The problem is that thefunds allocated from the then periods oftime and not spent so far are attachedto the next programmatic period. Thus,some of the managerial bodies willbe accomplishing the EU fundsspending from the current period oftime. To get it straight, everything hasto be done in order to make EU fundsan attractive tool, i.e., to convincethe end recipients, including thecommunities, using the newlyinnovatedprocedures that to spendthe EU funds can be met without extrared tapes performance and withoutthe endless maturity dates for invoicespayment. Notwithstanding, the endrecipients have to be also liable forcomplying with their obligations inthe event if a project fails. However,they will be able to be responsible forthe risks if the risks existing prior toit are even. Therefore, the odd paperwork and dual procedures have tobe reduced and removed in order toaccelerate the procedure of the fundsimplementation in its entirety.Foto: archívFoto: archívExcerpt from an Interview with theMinister of Transport, Construction andRegional Development of the SlovakRepublic, Ján Počiatek■■ Slovakia’s EU funds spending within theplanned period that is coming to its end canbe deemed to be less than insufficient, globallyspeaking. What can be said as a matterof the EU funds spending in relation to roadsconstruction?Both prior axes of the programmaticplan related to the Transport aimed atconstruction of roads and highways havebeen contracted to the extent of more thansixty per cent. Being committed to issuewe do our best to make the number better.The first results can be seen already.■■ How much EU funds is still left to be spentand complete the spending under the currentand forthcoming years?An amount more than 3.8 billion eurowas allocated globally to the extent ofthe operational programme related tothe Transport, and we are enthusiastic tospend maximum out of the funds available.At the present the contracts have beensigned for approximately sixty-five percent out of the amount of the funds. Bythe end of the year the entire OperationalProgramme related to the Transport shallbe contractually covered.■■ I cannot but ask you about the EU fundsdesigned for the years 2014 – 2020. Is the issueof the road infrastructure construction ofhelp to recover the pressing problem of theunemployment-rate?The infrastructural projects are of thehuge advantage as they are deemed to bethe anti-cyclic policy tool accepted andwidely-applied worldwide. Thus, underthe crisis era those are enabling to employpeople and give them a job, andconcurrently, they are producing afavourable potential for a country’sfuture economic growth. Youseem to be aware of a precisenumber how many openings willbe provided thanks to billions ofeuro we wish to invest by the endof 2016. Unfortunately, we areunable to do so but we are sure tosay that the matter is thousandsof vacancies Slovakia-wide. TheInstitute of Finance Policy is alreadyfunctioning at the Finance Ministryto provide us with viable numbers.Excerpt from an Interview withthe State Secretary of the Ministryof Transport, Construction andRegional Development of theSlovak Republic, František Palko■■ Tourism Trade in Slovakia is reportingan increased demand for beauty spots tobe visited country-wide. It is not that easy tobecome a top destination enlisted.We are proud to say that Slovakia isrich in vast natural resources occurrence,and cultural and historical heritage; thus,Slovakia’s placement is getting better as itcan be seen in many prestigious tourismbusiness top charts. Slovakia was rated72 Časopis na prezentáciu Slovenska v Európskej únii