National Park Reform Faces Criticism

Environmental groups, scientists and opposition politicians have criticised the government's newly approved zoning plans for four national parks, warning they may fail to meet the conditions of Slovakia's Recovery and Resilience Plan. Critics argue the plans do not provide sufficient protection for valuable forests and could put hundreds of millions of euros in EU funding at risk. They are also calling on the government to publish the final versions of the approved documents. Environment Ministry State Secretary Filip Kuffa (SNS) said the European Commission's concerns relate not to the zoning itself, but to changes introduced by the government when approving the plans.