Slovakia should use the money from the EU Recovery Plan to support the green economy, digitalisation, ecological projects, and the development of infrastructure such as railways or bypasses around smaller towns, according to Vice-premier Veronika Remišová (For the People), Environment Minister Ján Budaj (OLaNO), Transport Minister Andrej Doležal (a We Are Family nominee) and Deputy Economy Minister Karol Galek. Slovakia should make use of the €6 billion package primarily for air and water protection, waste management reform and climate-related projects. The use of more than half of the EU money for green projects and digitalisation is also being urged by the European Commission.
Slovakia must meet the task of increasing its share of energy from renewable sources to 19.2 percent by 2030. Implementation of the EU's "Winter Package", supporting access to the electricity network for small electricity producers also, should be instrumental in this. A big portion of the Recovery Plan could end up in the renewal of buildings or railway transport, stated the Transport Minister, who stressed that the EC's condition is that the countries should draw at least 70 percent of the money by 2023. Slovakia is consulting with the EU regarding the details of this condition. If applied, it will be hard to cover large-scale infrastructure projects from the fund and it will be important to combine financing from structural funds and the state budget as well. The money from the Recovery Plan would then be used for less time-consuming investments, added Doležal.
