(Videorozhovor) M. Lexmann o byrokracii v SR: Náš starosta odovzdáva 1,5 m kopu papierov, poľský príde s jednou A4

Madam European Commissioner, according to critics, many social projects of the European Union contribute to citizens' dependence and their reliance on the state. Improving people's situation by reducing bureaucracy. lower taxes and creating a friendlier environment for small ones to strong entrepreneurs instead of social programs? We can do this in possibly three areas. The first area is that such social policy should not be We give people fish, but we also teach them how to catch fish. Why did we pull those people out of that difficult social environment? and so that we could give them some credibility and some possibility to move forward Economically speaking. That's one thing. The second thing is that it is very important that this social policy functions in such a way that that it is created as close as possible to a human. So for KDH, it is very much a priority that so that those financial resources are transferred directly to the regions, but that the management itself also decided about them those EU funds were transferred to the regions, We currently have it set up that way for that section as well. and this is still a very small portion of those financial resources, which we have transferred, so that their regions may use them for their own priorities, But bureaucracy has still remained in those ministries, at the agencies responsible for the Slovak-wide management of European funds, which of course creates major problems. I can give you an example like this, on which it can be beautifully demonstrated. when cross-border projects are carried out, for example in Poland, which is in the same European Union, meaning it has the same requirements legislative on the part of the European Commission regarding the use of and the disbursement of EU funds, so we compare it to this way, that our local administrator for his part of the project He must hand in 1.5 meters of paper. then come endless months, sometimes even years, waiting for it, How could he possibly approve it, when that Polish guy comes from 1 to 4? and he can immediately start drawing, because in fact he will begin Gradually draw these portions, and only then settle the accounts. when it's accomplished. I mean, just that beginning alone is absolutely distinct, and then this leads to that, when our mayor taps the cornerstone, When he starts building, the Pole is already cutting the tape. that the construction is more or less already finished. So this is such an example, under the same conditions, in the same environment, Which ones are granted to us by the European Union, actually, How we are currently exploiting the opportunity to effectively utilize these environments. And when we sell it to that social sector, then exactly, when we lack vision, when decisions are made badly, bureaucratically, indefinitely long, in fact, until you provide that help to him to the extent that he was involved in that social sphere, the situation between them developed in the meantime It also worsens it. That's precisely why we need that efficiency right here. and we need to have a clear systemic vision here, that if we want to help people in a difficult situation, why we pulled them out, and not to set it up so that that we will regularly provide the fish that are missing there for them precisely due to the delayed disbursement of EU funds. How might we propose the ideal form of the European Social Fund? from the age of 27 to 34, from your perspective, What would it look like? Which elements would you strengthen and which would you limit? It would certainly be good if a reform were carried out. If we hadn't spent those funds, but had instead allocated them or used for a clear reform of the social system, such as To had to be effective in order to catch that man as soon as possible. to effectively help him get out of that difficult social situation or any other life situation. What matters to me is this, because right now there is consideration of that some milestones will be set in the European Social Fund, which the Member States will have to fulfill. For us, or for me and for KDH, the problem would be in that, that we would become vassals, perhaps a reluctant government, who is unable to carry out those reforms in a way that would utilize and help people. I'll tell you that, because this is a system being adopted from the recovery plan at present. I will say, for example, a milestone of the recovery plan was to improve the assessment activities, Thus, expert activity, to what extent of dependence is a person classified so health-related disadvantage. I carried out that reform, but that reform turned out so, that the appraisal activity is functioning even worse than before. People wait for entire months to receive their own degree of commitment. We have catastrophic situations in families where they have a patient or a person with very serious health disadvantages and they won't actually get that assessment, so they can't prove it and reach a conclusion To this state aid, so that this client can be placed in a facility. or so that the family could receive some appropriate assistance. In fact, we have actually set up our own reform so that Although the operation was successful, the patient died. Simply reforming has only worsened the already difficult situation. and in such a way we will not reach that Why didn't we use those resources to move our country forward? so that we created a sustainable, life-sustaining social assistance system such as so that this citizen felt this help and it assisted him in a difficult situation. Several legions claim they are tied hand and foot The level of centralization at the government level is too high when it comes to priorities. Mali should grant greater autonomy to its regions. For the use of the ESF Plus? Yes, my priority is that, and I am striving to incorporate it into legislation. in the subsequent multiannual financial framework, or in the next package of EU funds we will draw from starting in 2008, The regions received the largest share of funding. In Poland, for example, with the renovation plan, it was almost 90%. on those classic structured funds. It is over 50%, which are directly transferred to the regions. And we see that it works, but also that management It must be moved to those regions. So, gentlemen, they must establish only such a basic one, the basic framework of certain priorities and then those partial projects and the implementation of that social service, when we talk, for example, about the European fund, It will already be on those regions you have set as priorities. Black because by setting it closer to the person, they better know how to set priorities, determine what is most important What I can most effectively do to help the citizens living in that region. Slovakia is often criticized for its slow and inefficient utilization of EU funds. You see the problem more in Brussels, in the Slovak administration or in political culture. Do you think that the embezzlement of EU funds could also happen intentionally? I don't know if it was intentional. The euro fund shortfall, if we take that into account for example in the sense of which EU funds might disappear somewhere or they may be used for things that look like some kind of corrupt schemes, That's certainly a problem because we didn't set it up install control mechanisms that are intended to prevent that Could it have been corrupted in some way? or inefficiently used European funds. This is certainly also part of political culture. as well as the political decisions of the current government, when we talk about the present period. Political culture—there's definitely a problem there. Definitely identify the problem with the way we set it up complicate bureaucratic procedures for drawing down EU funds. On that Polish example, actually I said, the difference between one member state and us It's huge, even more so because it's the same European Union a tie same legislative requirements I'd say they've taken it that far, I suppose. that when you reject those applicants. It should also be said that there should have been greater trust there, when a certain applicant has been regularly carrying out certain projects for a long time, greater trust, for example, from the city, municipality, and region, which have their own control mechanisms, Which ones are state-set, or are they? These are the institutions that use public funds. The control mechanisms there are already clearly set. so we don't need to duplicate it in such a way that we still They bureaucraticly burdened these regions, cities, and municipalities. or even the implementing organizations being overwhelmed by endless bureaucracy, which we see when we look at those results that in fact we are just consuming those EU funds, that we are pleased we missed them rather than strategically investing in them So even that large, bloated bureaucracy isn't helping us To avoid corruption scandals, to spend those funds effectively They reduced our country to dust.