The Slovak Parliament rejected the opposition’s proposal to make drawing down of EU funds more transparent and to intensify controls over the process, by refusing on April 22 to move the bill to a second reading, the TASR newswire wrote.
The aim of the proposal was to increase transparency and to lower the possibility of funds being misused by people who take part in the decision-making process or make use of the funds. “The goal is to bring more light to decision-making and the use of EU funds, to create better scope for public controls,” said one of the submitters of the bill, SDKÚ-DS MP Lucia Žitňanská.
The proposal would have required ministries managing EU funds to make public a list of decision-makers involved. Materials and details of negotiations would also have been made publicly accessible. Decisions on applications for EU funds would have had to contain information on how the application was evaluated.
“In this situation, with the limited amount of drawing down that is taking place at the moment, it may seem absurd that we want to talk about making controls stricter. But we think that it isn't absurd and that it makes sense, as it matters where the money that is being drawn ends up,” said Žitňanská. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
23. Apr 2009 at 14:00
