At a press conference was given today by analyst Ivan Kuhn from the Mr. R. Stefanik Conservative Institute, in which he points to dubious practices in the use of EU funds in project management tenders, in an organised system that takes advantage of certain legal loopholes to cash in on EU funding.
Kuhn mentioned the case of the company Star EU, for instance, which had been successful all 50 times in 50 tenders involving EU funding, awarded directly to the company as the EUR 20,000 threshold was not exceeded, meaning a full public tender was not required. He explained that there were three specific companies involved in the system, with the lowest bid always winning, as set out in the law for these kinds of contract awards.
Kuhn said there is a good suspicion that the “offers were submitted in a co-ordinated way” in various project management tenders across the country, based on his research for the 2008-2011 period in some 36 municipalities. Although not claiming the three companies had any political ties, Kuhn recalled an article from daily SME from 2009 that claimed the three companies had links to the ruling Smer-SD party, which denied any connection.
I don’t know about abuse of funds but barmy schemes using those funds seem the norm here. This Monday we were presented with a scheme to install vacuum garbage collection systems in the city’s high rise estates. Instead of putting their sorted rubbish into the current “super wheelie bins” they will dump the lot into a discrete hole in the ground for it to be whisked off to a central station, presumably to be sorted and put into bins for disposal. The reasons given for this proposal were – the homeless will not be able to sleep in the containers?, to solve collection problems caused by inconsiderate and illegal parking? and to provide a few more parking spaces for residents. The downside, which was brushed over – the cost of installation, operation and servicing the system would be paid for by ALL City residents by a rise in local taxes, the installation would require streets to be dug up, traffic diverted and parking chaos. Some of the green areas around the blocks would have to go to build the collection stations and pump houses. “What happens when it breaks down?” – “We go back to using “wheelie bins” – “where will they be placed?” – ” Some parking spaces will be lost” – “How many extra parking spaces will it provide?” – ” Hard to say, maybe 6 or 8 per average block” – ” And where will the workers in the collection stations park?” – “Each station will have its own parking” – “Why not just build extra car parks where the stations would be built?” – “That would mean losing green space which the residents don’t want to do” – “But they would lose it if the stations are built” – No response!
If this is an example of how local politicians plan to use EU funding, then God help this country.
These corruption issues have only intensified over the past few years.
As someone who has lived in the (where the F is SK???) country, I think they are only getting worse and things are going to the sheets.
Dishonest, corrupt and no one ever has to pay for their crimes as it has become the norm here. Put the country down the trash hole while they are at it. I feel SK will never and doesn’t want to wake up to better than ever or new and improved Hungary, CZ or Poland. SK is still walking with a stick up its arse.
To be fair Mattej, the majority of the local politicians aren’t bright enough to be corrupt. However, being totally devoid of any nounce they readily accept these “bright ideas” and support them with no real concept of what they are voting for. Even the most simple of problems, it would appear, have to have the most complicated and expensive solutions and I can’t help feeling that certain local characters are pulling the strings to get such “lucrative” schemes approved. None of the arguments put forward in support of this scheme hold any water – homeless sleeping rough – “surplus” buildings that could be used for homeless shelters sold for peanuts to relatives – Illegal and inconsiderate parking – tow trucks and tickets – Insufficient parking – build more parking spaces or apply the same rules to the estates as we who live in the city center have. Until we built our own car parking we had to pay (Euro 500.00) per year, not for a guaranteed parking space, just for the privilege of competing against other drivers for a space close to our home. Our permit did not allow us to park in any other zone. The estate residents don’t pay a cent yet demand ever more car places. Everyone – flat dweller or house owner has to foot the bill for their convenience. The same people are up in arms if anyone suggest building car parks on “their” green spaces. The simple fact is, the majority of people here live in communist era tower blocks built at a time when there was a select waiting list for a motor vehicle. The last twenty years has seen no implementation of a city wide housing policy to move away from high density blocks even though the changes in society have mean more affluence and demand for motor vehicles. Hard choices should have been made years ago including telling the flat dwellers that they would have to live surrounded by car parks if they want to have a car – as it is, with local elections this year, populist yet ever more bizarre schemes are tabled to curry favour with the rabbit hutch voters while the rest of us are faced with paying for them.
Tisk …another cash and grabb Quiz night advert I see …and this mews paper is worried about funding of the EU ??