Inefficient use of EU funds costs Slovakia ‘three hospitals yearly’

Insufficient public investment in Slovakia, which has averaged €1.2 billion less per year than its neighbours over the past five years, has led to investment debt of over €40 billion, equivalent to the cost of building three new hospitals or 13 kilometres of motorway every year.

In the run-up to the recent elections, the outgoing government highlighted the under-utilisation of EU funds and left instructions on how to improve the situation.

To optimise the use of EU funds, Slovakia urgently needs to develop a long-term development strategy, speed up the evaluation of applications and improve the preparatory phase of public procurement, it said.

Investment Minister Peter Balík stressed the importance of quality and timely preparation of defined strategic projects.

“A case in point is the hospitals in Martin and Rázsochy. If these projects had been prepared promptly and sensibly, these investments could have already been realised,” Balík said in relation to creating a fund for pre-project preparation.

One of the government’s proposals for change is that decisions on allocating some EU funds will no longer be the sole responsibility of ministries but will involve regions and municipalities.

The previous government decided that €2.1 billion, approximately 16% of the total national allocation, would go towards projects under the jurisdiction of local self-governments.

Several political parties, with the potential to form the next government after the upcoming snap elections, support the transfer of EU funds to local self-government projects. Parties such as PS, Hlas, SaS, and KDH favour decentralising EU funds.

In their election programme, the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) states its intention to potentially shift “up to 50% of the resources” in this manner. This move is viewed as potentially the most significant “reform” in the utilisation of EU funds.

(Marián Koreň | Euractiv.sk)