After unveiling suspicions that Euro Funds are being given to people who have nothing to do with agriculture, farmers from eastern Slovakia want to resolve the situation with the government, reported public broadcaster RTVS. "We have won 14 trials in court, however, in spite of this fact we were not able to resolve the situation with the police," said František Oravec of the Union of Local Farmers and Land Owners. As RTVS cited Agriculture Minister Gabriela Matečná, changes are being prepared at the level of the European Union. The main goal is for those who grow products and employ people to receive more. "It means that personal expenses would be taken into consideration. Then a possible conditioned commitment of payments at a level of 20%, as well as the correct definition of an active farmer should be included." said Matečná for RTVS, reiterating that the systematic misuse of agriculture subsidies has not occurred in Slovakia, according to controls by the EU commission.
On the other hand, the former Agriculture Minister and currently independent MP Zsolt Simon believes that people who approved EU funds to non-eligible parties might easily be found. "Let's ask a question. Who applied for the non-eligible land to receive funds? We can arrive at the particular name of a person, because the application has to be somewhere. We also must be able to find out who carried out the control. Once we take these steps, then we can find out, where the mistake happened," said Simon.
Matečná argues that there is not enough money and people to perform overall and continual checks of those who receive money. However, the head of the Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber Milan Semančík disagrees. "What would definitely help is completing the financing for the digitalisation of the Agricultural Paying Agency. It would also be helpful to use modern technologies, I mean drones, thus significantly speeding up controls at particulars spots," explained Semančík. Mistakes in dividing Euro Funds among farmers in eastern Slovakia were pointed out after the death of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak, who looked into this topic. According to RTVS, Agriculture Minister Gabriela Matečná as well as Prime Minister Peter Pelegrini should meet farmers this Thursday.
