Remisova: Kmec's Subsidy Calls Accompanied by Serious Failures

        Bratislava, 13 November (TASR) - Vice-premier for the Recovery Plan and a Knowledge-based Economy Peter Kmec (Voice-SD) is distributing subsidies for science and research in an even more brazen and non-transparent manner than former education minister Peter Plavcan did in the past during the EU fund scandal, which ultimately led to his resignation, opposition MP Veronika Remisova ('Slovakia'-'For the People' caucus) announced at a press conference on Thursday.
        The Vice-premier's Office issued two calls to support research and development in the field of biotechnology and robotics, for which it intends to allocate €180 million from the state budget. According to Remisova, these calls have been accompanied by serious failures throughout the entire subsidy allocation process. The contracts that have already been signed lack a description of the project, an appendix with the budget, and even the name of the project, which should be standard in every grant contract, pointed out the MP.
        Remisova also criticised Kmec for not publishing the list of evaluators, descriptions of the projects or the ranking of the projects. Contrary to the binding methodology for the management, financing and evaluation of support for research, development, and innovation, he also bypassed mandatory evaluation by foreign evaluators, she stated.
        The opposition MP described a statement by Voice-SD chairman Matus Sutaj Estok concerning the verification of applications as hypocritical and deceitful. "He knows very well that some contracts have already been signed by his colleague Kmec, entitling the applicants to subsidies. The result will be lawsuits and tens of millions of euros wasted on pointless grants for dubious companies," she warned.
        In connection with the suspect calls for proposals, Remisova is asking the vice-premier to immediately publish all related materials, i.e., expert evaluations with the names of the evaluators, the ranking of projects and descriptions of projects, and to cancel the entire non-transparent process. He should also immediately stop signing further contracts in the call for proposals in question.
        Several opposition politicians have pointed to the controversial evaluation of calls for contracts. They've claimed that the money was allocated to Voice-SD sponsors and garage firms. Alena Sabelova, State Secretary of the Vice-premier's Office for Recovery Plan and Knowledge-based Economy, has repeatedly rejected such criticism.