Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová, Parliamentary Chairman Boris Kollár (We Are Family) and Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OĽaNO) on Wednesday signed a joint letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accompanying the country's plan to the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility. The three officials signed the letter ceremonially shortly after the plan was approved by the Cabinet earlier in the day. The document outlines reforms and investments in Slovakia worth a total of €6.6 billion, with the most voluminous package going to the green economy, which is followed by health care. Other spheres included in the plan are effective public administration and digitisation, education and science, research and innovations.
"The Recovery and Resilience Facility isn't only a means for restarting the economy after the coronavirus-induced crisis, but also an opportunity for the overall modernisation of the country", said President Zuzana Čaputová on Wednesday. "I'm especially happy to see that the need for the fight against climate change was taken into consideration in the recovery plan," said Čaputová, who was an environmental activist before being elected president two years ago. At the same time president noted that Slovakia seems to be better at drawing up strategies and action plans than carrying them out.
Meanwhile, Parliamentary Speaker Boris Kollár believes that the plan could help disadvantaged groups and support the construction of five hospitals, a hundred care homes and a hundred new schools. PM Eduard Heger, for his part, pointed to the fact that the Government had received 2,500 comments from various entities as part of the official process, stating that this is a clear sign that the public wants reforms.
According to opposition parties Smer-SD and Voice-SD, Slovakia's Recovery Plan has omitted several spheres, including agriculture, culture, industry and the self-employed. The national recovery plan forms part of a joint response by EU-member countries to the steep economic decline caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The document must be submitted to the European Commission by April 30 and must meet certain criteria set by the Commission.
