The state-run Environment Fund approved hundreds of thousands of euros in subsidies for an obscure organisation for environment-related activities after the Environment Minister Jozef Medveď met the fund's president, Roman Kováč, on Tuesday, May 11.
The Aktualne.sk web portal reported that a civic association calling itself Eko-budúcnosť (Eco-Future), formed in December 2008, stands to receive €566,000 for four projects relating to environmental education and promotion and protection of the natural environment.
Eko-budúcnosť has been criticised for not having released any information about itself, and for not having a website. But Kováč said a website was not a criterion for granting subsidies.
Greenpeace, one of the best-known environmental organisations, highlighted the number of subsidies awarded in the past decade. Juraj Rizman, head of Greenpeace in Slovakia, noted that Eko-budúcnosť was the only organisation to be awarded more than two subsidies in one year.
Contentious allocations from the Environment Fund, the board of which advises the Environment Minister on subsidies, forced the Fico government's first environment minister, Jaroslav Izák, from office in 2008. At the time, Prime Minister Robert Fico said that the drawing of funds was lawful but unethical.
Source: 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.
