According to the opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU-DS) deputy, Stefan Kuzma, Slovakia will not draw any funds from the European Union (EU) this year and will thus become a net contributor to the EU budget. At a Monday press conference in the eastern town of Presov, the former state secretary of the Ministry of Construction and Regional Development added that eastern Slovakia, and in the end the whole of Slovakia, would pay for inability to draw eurofunds. With the help of such financial support, the infrastructure in the east should have been completed and its employment rate increased, but Slovakia will probably not be able to draw the promised funds until as late as 2008, Mr. Kuzma believes. "I think that until the end of 2008 we will be net contributors," Mr. Kuzma emphasized.
At the beginning of its term, the new government canceled the original draft National Strategic Reference Framework for the programming period of 2007-2013, and began working on a new one, which is to be signed by Brussels at the end of this week. The process of project approval will have to start all over again, and will take more time, Mr. Kuzma commented. He views the issue of readiness of counties to draw these finances as a problem as well. "The Chairman of Presov County has done nothing in this regard except for making one personnel change," stated the SDKU-DS deputy.
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