As of 15 June, direct payments amounting to €582.8 million had been paid out to farmers within the 2025 campaign, making up 97.89 percent of the total package of €595.4 million, according to Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD).
Farmers received €390.2 million (98.43 percent) under the first pillar, while €192.6 million (96.49 percent) was paid out under the second pillar. An amount of €12.6 million is still to be disbursed, therefore.
According to Takac, Slovakia isn't facing a penalty from the EU, as Brussels rules require at least 95 percent of payments to be made by the end of June.
"The remaining €12.6 million concerns some 200 farmers who have already received advance payments but are still undergoing checks. There are certain findings that need to be assessed, so not only the Agricultural Payment Agency (PPA) but also the other organisations that help us are still carrying out checks so that we can pay out more than €12 million," he said.
Takac added that it has once again been possible to pay out direct payments from the European Commission (EC) within the required deadline and without any penalties this year. "For three consecutive years there have been no penalties from the EC whatsoever. In the previous twenty years, there were always penalties," he stressed.
According to Takac, a total of 14,414 applicants had registered for the 2026 campaign by the end of May 2026, an increase of 789 year-on-year. The size of the national package for this campaign amounts to just over €662 million. "In this campaign, we have nearly €70 million more available for direct subsidies for the farming sector," underlined the minister.
Takac added that the priorities for the 2026 campaign include increasing the percentage of advance payments, with those under the first pillar rising to 70 percent (the maximum level) and those under the second pillar from 80 percent to 85 percent. Advance payments for so-called animal welfare amounting to 85 percent will be provided for the first time. In addition, coupled support for dairy cows is being increased by €7.7 million. A new feature under the second pillar is support for livestock farming in organic agricultural production.
Source: TASR
