Balik: Drawing of EU Funds Also Influenced by Problems on Recipients' Side

Bratislava, October 20 (TASR) - One of the many reasons for the poor use of EU funds in Slovakia is also insufficient human professional capacity on the part of the recipients, outgoing caretaker Investments Minister Peter Balik stated at a discussion on Friday. Slovakia has repeatedly failed to use up all the money from EU funds. The government anticipates that approximately €100 million will be lost in the programme period that is just ending. "Long-term efforts must be made to educate and increase these capacities in the regions but also in the case of other recipients. It often happens that the recipients don't understand the various methodological guidelines, legislation and various things on the basis of which European funds are determined and used," stated Balik. For this reason, according to him, it's necessary to pay great attention to human capacities in the regions. He added that building professional apparatus in municipal authorities is not a matter of course in every town. "I'd even say that it's only a minority of such towns and villages have personnel apparatuses that know what the rules are and how to follow them," he added. am/mcs