Slovakia first to lose EU COVID aid over conflict of interest

Slovakia has been ordered to return €1.2 million of EU Recovery Fund money disbursed during the pandemic, as the European Commission claims that the Ministry of Education failed to prevent and address a conflict of interest.

The case dates back to 2021, when a member of the board of trustees awarded funding to a regional university.

“We confirm that this is the first case of a reduction of support under the Recovery Plan in the event of a serious irregularity,” a spokesperson for the Commission told Euractiv Slovakia.

The call for proposals focused on developing university clusters and outlined a collaboration plan between two regional institutions: the lead partner, the University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, and the project partner, the University of Trnava.

Both universities claim they were unaware of any conflict of interest. The names of the project evaluators appointed by the Ministry of Education have not been made public, and there have been staff changes on the board of trustees at the University of Trnava.

The conflict of interest was discovered in a 2022 audit by the European Commission.

Slovakia could have retained the EU funds by recovering €1.2 million from the universities involved. However, the Ministry of Education refused, claiming that the universities were not at fault.

Consequently, the European Commission has decided to deduct the full amount from Slovakia’s next Recovery Fund payment, which is without precedent.

The ministry blamed the former education minister Branislav Gröhling, who is now leader of the liberal opposition party SaS. According to the statement, a declaration of conflict of interest was not compulsory at the time of the call for applications, but the new administration has introduced this rule. Gröhling declined to comment on the matter to Euractiv.

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