The state-run Environmental Fund has allocated a subsidy amounting to €566,000 to a civic association named Eko-budúcnosť (Eco-Future), the SITA newswire wrote on May 6. The association received funding for six projects, four educational and two related to environment protection.
Eko-budúcnosť was established a year and a half ago but experts and NGOs in the field say they do not know anything about the organisation. The civic association does not have a website nor is there relevant information about it published on the web, they said.
According to Peter Medveď, the director of the Banská Bystrica foundation Ekopolis, it is surprising that such a large sum was granted to an organization whose activities are not even recognized on a local level.
A number of civil associations said they have given up applying for a state subsidy from the Environmental Fund due to its funding practices. The spokesperson of Greenpeace Slovensko, Lucia Szabová, said that they have never heard of Eko-buducnost and they consider allocating such a large amount of money to an unknown association to be suspicious.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
