Takac: We Still Haven't Drawn Almost €1 bn from Rural Development Programme

Bratislava, March 8 (TASR) - Slovakia is yet to draw almost €1 billion for supporting farmers from the old Rural Development Programme by the end of next year, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) told a news conference on Friday, adding that the slow rate of drawing funds is a heritage left by governments from the previous 3.5 years. If Slovakia is to be able to draw the money, the Agricultural Payment Agency (PPD) will have to improve procedures and work faster than ever before, he said. "We already have a new programme period, and we should deal with announcing new calls under that. Unfortunately, we must do our best to manage to draw the money that our predecessors left for us due to their amateurism and inability," stated Takac. Slovakia, with a level of EU funds drawn standing at 62.77 percent, is the second worst country in the European Union (EU) in these terms. The minister pointed out that while PPA during the term of previous governments led by Smer-SD managed to oversee the drawing of more than €200 million in this area, the amount fell by half during the government of the former OLANO party. Even if the agency's pace returned to original levels from the past, there wouldn't be enough time to arrange all the remaining money for farmers by the end of next year, and we might lose part of it, he said. "Naturally, we've prepared a number of measures, steps, simplifying procedures, reducing red tape, also in terms of external aid in order to be able to draw this money," stressed Takac. In this connection, he called on farmers who have already concluded contracts for their projects not to wait too long to apply for reimbursement. ko/df