Slovak Rural Areas and the EU Aid

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Slovak Rural Areas and the EU Aid

• Jela Tvrdonová, Slovak Republic

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Accession conditions - Copenhagen criteria

• Candidate country
• Stabil institutions securing democracy, legal
  system, human right, respecting and protecting
  minorities
• Functioning market economy and capacity to cope
  with the EU common market
• Willigness and ability to accept all commitments
  related with the EU membership including
  objectives of political, economic and monetary
  union

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Pre-accession aid

• Acquis and Association Agreement and Accession
  Partnership
• PHARE prepare for ESF/ERDF
• SAPARD prepare for EAGGF Guidance
• ISPA prepare for cohesion fund

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Principles of EU policies

• Partnership
• Programing
• Concentration
• Additionality
• Transparency
• Subsidiarity

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Accession experiences

• Acession Agreement
• Programing
• Community Support Framework National
  Development Plan and operational programs (4 in
  total)
• Rural development program
• Single programming document for Bratislava Region
• EQUAL
• INTERREG

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Institutional capacity

• Three most important national level institutions
• Managing Authority - programming
• Implementation and paying Authority
  implementation
• Monitoring Committee monitoring, evaluation and
  program changes
• Others Certification Authority, Financial
  management Authority.

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What means rural areas in Slovakia

• No official definition
• But
• 85 of total area of SR (cadasters)
• 48 of population SR (out of 5,3 Mil.)
• 95,2 communities which are not defined as
  cities.
• Out of total number 2883 it is 2.745 communities

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Were Slovak Rural Areas ready for the
Pre-accession EU Aid?

• Pre-Accession Aid slow take off, lack of trust,
  information and necessary skills, in spite of
  that the Interest has grown gradually as follows
• PHARE (mainly CBC) 204 projects out of total
  number 664 projects, in the volume of 55 of the
  total request 26.509.911 EUR
• SAPARD 889 projects (without Measure food
  processing and technical assistance) in the
  volume 173.384.000 EUR

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Pre-Accession Aid

• In total within the frame of Pre-accession Aid
  Slovak rural areas requested 64 of projects in
  total volume 221 Mil EUR (81 of financial
  request),
• Out of this request the majority of projects were
  submitted in SAPARD Program (the most of it were
  investments in agriculture holdings (40 of the
  total request for Pre-accession funds)

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Pre-Accession Aid

• Comparission of submitted projects in rural and
  non-rural areas Pre-accession Funds

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Pre-Accession Aid

• Financial requests of applicants from rural and
  non-rural areas Pre-accession Aid (in EUR)

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Were Slovak rural areas ready to absorb the EU
Structural Aid?

• Plan of Rural development /PRV Ministry of
  Agric. MP SR 993 projects ( except of Measures
  food processing and TA) in the financial
  volume186.995.000 EUR
• Sector operational program for Agriculture and
  Rural Development SOP PRV the same MoA 2.345
  projects (except of Measures food processing and
  TA) in the requested volume 589.613.000 EUR

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Structural funds

• In total within the frame of above mentioned
  instruments rural areas requested 77 projects in
  total financial volume 1.202 mil. EUR (69 from
  the total sum) from Structural funds

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Structural funds

• Comparission of number of submitted projects to
  after accession EZ funds among rural and
  non-rural territories in the SR

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Structural funds

• Financial request of applicants from rural and
  non-rural territories of the SR for Structural
  Funds ( EUR)

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Were Slovak rural areas ready for Pre-accession
and Accession Aid of the EU?

• It is possible to conclude
• Rural areas requested from Pre-accession and
  Accession Instruments 1.423 Mil. EUR
• The most popular Measures were investment
  measures, on the other side so called soft
  measures supporting social or educational
  projects were much less popular
• For one village the financial request represented
  0,5 MEUR in average
• From the point of view of ratio of rural
  population to the total number of inhabitants
  (48,9), the financial request of rural dwellers
  was 66,2 out of total request 2.147.240.365
  EUR, in number of projects it was 72 of the
  total amount of submitted projects

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New program period

• New approach towards policies
• New vocabulary, new understanding, new
  competences (Lisabon a Gotteborg)
• Underlining of social pillar in bigger extent.
• Enfaces on partnerships and integrated approach
  in rural development
• Enfaces on the strategic approach in programming

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Are Slovak rural areas ready for the new period?

• Are RA able to approach development using the
  strategic instruments in partnerships?
• Are regional self-government ready to help?
• Are RA ready for LEADER approach?

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Thank you for your attention!
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Contact

• jelatvrdonova_at_yahoo.co.uk
• 0915709531