Businessmen Reject Opposition Statements on Stimuli for SCP Mondi

Businessmen Reject Opposition Statements on Stimuli for SCP Mondi

Bratislava, March 24 (TASR) – Klub 500 (an association of companies with at least 500 employees) rejects the non-professional and political statements on planned stimuli for a company called Mondi SCP Ruzomberok made by representatives of Opposition parties OLaNO-NOVA and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), Klub 500 president Vladimir Sotak told the media on Thursday.

On Tuesday, SaS MP Jana Kissova and OLaNO-NOVA leader Igor Matovic pointed to the fact that shortly after the general election, the outgoing government of Robert Fico granted stimuli worth €48 million to Mondi SCP Ruzomberok. They added that its co-owner has links to Smer-SD and pointed to the fact that the provision of stimuli wasn’t even conditioned by the creation of new jobs.

The now previous government thereby gave the firm money that it could have allocated to the education or health-care sectors, they stated. “The outgoing government evidently has money to spare, but it won’t go to the health or education sectors, or for a pension increase. A large portion of this money will be provided to a single extraordinarily successful supranational company – Mondi SCP Ruzomberok,” said Kissova on Tuesday.

Instead of welcoming the fact that the Slovak economy will acquire a significant investment amounting to over €300 million, these politicians disparaged the decision in a tabloid and populist manner, said Sotak. He finds it startling how easily the two MPs overlooked the fact that this is an investment in the further development of the company by extending production to include a new product, via which the area would benefit significantly.

Sotak described the statements made by the Opposition politicians as untrue, misleading and deceptive. The stimuli will be provided in the form of tax allowances and they won’t cost anybody anything. “There wouldn’t be any money for the salaries of teachers, MPs, their assistants and their offices without firms like Mondi SCP,” said Sotak.

“The outgoing government didn’t grant any stimuli, but issued a decision that is yet to be assessed by the Slovak Anti-monopoly Bureau and subsequently reported to the European Commission. This process could take one year or 18 months, and no assistance will be provided until then,” said head of the Economy Ministry’s communications department Michal Dzurjanin in reaction back on Tuesday.