Representatives of local governments in Slovakia want to meet with constitutional officials regarding the freezing of EU funds

Partizánske – Local governments are asking the government to revoke the decision to freeze 200 million euros from European Union (EU) funds. They want to meet with the three highest constitutional officials, and if the meeting is unsuccessful, they will turn to the European Parliament (EP). This was announced on Monday at a press conference in Partizánske by representatives of the Association of Towns and Municipalities of Slovakia (ZMOS), the Union of Towns of Slovakia (ÚMS), and the Association of Self-Governing Regions (SK8), TASR reports.

The chairman of ZMOS, Jozef Božik, reiterated that he considers the decision to freeze EU funds to be unfair and a negative signal in the relationship between local governments and the government. He claims that the Minister of Investments, Regional Development, and Informatization of the Slovak Republic, Samuel Migaľ (independent), guaranteed him that local governments would not lose the funds.

“We want to address this issue because this is not money for mayors, village heads, and governors; this is money for the citizens of our towns, villages, and self-governing regions,” Božik stated.

According to him, it should primarily be the citizens living in these local governments who question whether they are doing enough.

The chairman of SK8, Jozef Viskupič, also rejected criticism regarding the slow absorption of funds, identifying the problem as delays in preparing the programming period, priority announced demand-oriented calls, or lengthy checks.

“The total allocation for integrated territorial investments is 1.4 billion euros, the value of approved projects and intentions is 870,000,000 euros, which is 72 percent. Our real target by the end of this year is 85 percent, submitted applications for non-repayable financial contributions amount to 522,000,000 euros, approved applications only 193,000,000 euros, so projects are ready, there is interest, and the money has a place to go, but without calls and without public procurement checks, nothing will move,” Viskupič emphasized.

The president of ÚMS and the mayor of Trenčín, Richard Rybníček, conveyed to the government at the press conference that local governments are not state officials and are not subordinate to the government, but are partners directly elected by the citizens. “We need to speed up the absorption of EU funds. No, we need to speed up the bureaucracy in the state, for which the ministries and the prime minister are responsible,” he stated. (June 23)

“We want to address this issue because this is not money for mayors, village heads, and governors; this is money for the citizens of our towns, villages, and self-governing regions,” Božik stated.