The Slovak Towns and Villages Association (ZMOS) Council decided at its online meeting on Tuesday that it agrees with the offer of the payment of compensations due to high energy prices and it will also ask for the so-called COVID loans to be forgiven as well as that local government problems be addressed on an individual basis, ZMOS chairman Jozef Bozik told a press briefing in Partizanske (Trencin region). He called the offer a small victory, which he said was better than nothing.
The offer that was addressed to us is exactly halfway through. At the ZMOS Council, we decided to accept this offer with the addition that the so-called COVID loans will be forgiven too," said Bozik.
The compensation scheme is in the amount of €54 million, and in the case of loans, the amount is €152 million. Bozik pointed out that the municipalities were supposed to start repaying the loans in January next year. "This will partially free the hands of towns, villages and self-governing regions in order to prepare budgets for 2024, 2025 and 2026 in a better and more qualified manner," stated the ZMOS head.
"To a certain extent, it's a victory that it's more than zero. ZMOS is fully aware of this, which is why we also consider the activities that we implemented with the SK8 association to be very important. We also perceive that the Prime Minister [Ludovit Odor] was interested in helping, and this offer is certainly better than nothing," stated the ZMOS chair.
The government announced last week that it won't provide municipalities with compensations for high energy prices in the amount of €108 million, which the municipalities originally requested. The cabinet offered local authorities three options for resolving the situation, namely forgiving the so-called COVID loans, the payment of €54 million, or potential individual aid based on additional data.
Source: TASR
