An agreement having been reached following negotiations between the European Union member states, Slovakia did very well, with the final agreement being a unique opportunity for Slovakia, the Investment, Regional Development and Informatisation Ministry assessed on Tuesday.
Head of the Investment Ministry Veronika Remisova (For the People) said that despite additional cuts, Slovakia managed to defend about €13 billion for the 2021-2027 programming period. "This means €2,354 per citizen, which is the third highest amount in the EU (after Estonia and Latvia). As compared with our neighbours, this aid intensity amounts to more than the €1,971 per capita in the Czech Republic, €1,932 in Poland and €2,290 in Hungary," said Remisova.
In addition to this, Slovakia will receive more than €700 million for crisis recovery through the REACT-EU initiative. "It's important that these funds don't need to be co-financed from national resources," emphasised the ministry.
Analysts, too, think the approved agreement is favourable for Slovakia, but they say it will now be important to present those reforms and projects that Slovakia will finance from this money.
"It's a decent package of money for economic recovery. If the Slovak Government invests it wisely, it can help not only to restore the previous performance but especially to profile strengths in key areas of the Slovak economy," said Saxo Bank analyst Martin Sklenar.
"Slovakia, however, is historically very weak in drawing EU funds and this will be one of the biggest challenges of the new Government - managing how to use them. The money must be spent on some things but not on others, and therein lies the rub," said Tatra banka analyst Juraj Valachy, noting that these funds don't immediately increase the country's debt, and thus don't burden the budget.
According to Slovenska sporitelna analyst Katarina Muchova, the recovery package should be used for investment in the future, which means focusing on research and development, sustainable growth and a green economy, digitisation to strengthen labour markets, support for economic growth and improved quality of life.
Meanwhile, three-time former prime minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) has criticised current Premier Igor Matovic (OLaNO) after the latter's return from the EU summit in Brussels on Tuesday, claiming that he's lost millions of euros for Slovakia and that he's also degraded Slovakia's presentation at the top EU level.
Slovakia's alleged defeat consists in the way in which the €750-billion coronavirus recovery fund will be distributed, as originally €500 billion was supposed to be in the form of grants, which would be easier to spend. However, in the end the grant package amounted to only €390 billion, with the rest of the €750 billion to be drawn as loans. According to Fico, Matovic made a concession in this, when he could have vetoed any such proposal.
Slovakia should have €8 billion at its disposal from money that has not yet been used in its EU funds. The summit approved a recovery fund from which Slovakia is expected to receive €7.5 billion. At the same time, it'll be able to draw loans worth €6.8 billion with a very low interest rate. Slovakia should receive €18.6 billion from the EU's seven-year budget. Co-financing remains at 15 percent.
