New rules have been created for realisation of so-called significant investments, including one that aims to speed up the entire process. This is one of the changes included in the amendment to the law on major investments passed by parliament on June 25, the TASR newswire reported.
One of the changes, prepared by Smer MPs Maroš Kondrót, Michal Bagačka and František Petro, is also a change in the classification of significant investments. While currently the minimum amount a company must invest stands at €33.194 million, under the new rules significant investments will encompass a variety of construction projects for which the investment cost reaches at least €100 million, and which will significantly impact the economy, the SITA newswire reported.
Moreover, the amendment does away with the right of municipalities, regarded as “concerned parties”, to intervene in the process of approving significant investments. However, this excludes projects involving mining, as parliament passed an amending proposal whereby municipalities reserve the right to have input on mining ventures, TASR wrote.
The amendment has been criticised by the opposition, which is concerned that the changes might threaten private ownership and endow the government with additional powers in expropriation. Deptuy PM for investments Ľubomír Vážny, also said he saw some drawbacks in the amendment, TASR reported.
Kondrót defended the changes, saying that the current version of the law was passed in 1999 by the first government of Mikuláš Dzurinda. Moreover, they do not affect expropriation, explaining that “nothing new or important [is changing] there”, as reported by SITA.
Source: TASR, SITA
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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