The European Commission suspended Slovakia’s capability to draw European funds in the majority of operational programmes. Thus what was discussed in the spring as a potential risk has now been translated into reality. The Finance Ministry claims that it’s been busy fixing the shortcomings since mid-May. “We’ve already met three out of ten requirements, with the remaining four being met partially and the other three addressed gradually. Also because of this, the payments in Operational Programme Education have been unblocked,” is the ministry’s reaction. European auditors looked into a sample of EU-funded projects already cleared by a two-level Slovak check as flawless.
According to the media, the majority of projects suffered from exorbitant prices and flaws in the public procurement processes. In this respect, Finance Minister Peter Kažimír dismissed the general director of the Finance Ministry Audit and Supervision Department and announced changes to the audit system. Out of 11 Slovak Operational Programmes from the period 2007-13, the European Commission suspended funding for nine, with only the ones dealing with the environment and employment remaining unaffected. The remedial steps of the Finance Ministry are to be reviewed by the Commission in the autumn, and if all criteria are met, payments could be unblocked.
