PS: Smer-SD Governments Failed to Disburse Funds Through Local Action Groups

Bratislava, February 25 (TASR) - The governments under Smer-SD party failed to pay out a single euro through local action groups in six years, and today they're blaming the wrong people, the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party stated in response to Agriculture Minister Richard Takac's (Smer-SD) comments on the poor utilisation of funds for local action groups. According to MP Darina Luscikova (PS), tens of millions of euros allocated for local action groups will be lost due to the incompetence of Smer-SD and Slovak National Party (SNS), with Takac, she argues, looking for a scapegoat for the fact that these funds for people in rural areas will be wasted. "The minister forgot to mention that it was the Smer and SNS governments that, in 2017, ended the preparation of strategies in the regions three months after the deadline. The Slovak Supreme Audit Office and the European Court of Auditors pointed out the poorly set processes. The minister also didn't mention that due to these shortcomings, we hadn't even started utilising funds for projects by 2020, while the neighbouring Czech Republic had already utilised more than €64 million," noted Luscikova. "Slovakia has had access to EU funds for rural development since 2014, but Minister Takac refused to mention this," added MP Jana Hanuliakova (PS). "Over the past six years, they haven't been able to pay out a single euro for these rural development projects. Even for reimbursing administrative costs, local groups had to wait nearly two years. When Minister Takac talks about the mess left by his predecessors, he's right. These predecessors are from his own party. But once again, it's the people in the regions who suffer," noted Hanuliakova. lin/mcs