Taraba and Takac Sign Memorandum on Transferring Land to National Parks
Bratislava, 6 August (TASR) - The ownership and management of the forests in the four national parks (NP) that underwent zoning at the beginning of July are being fully transferred to the national parks, and similarly, the national park authorities will be fully responsible for managing the delimited assets within their territories, TASR learnt on Thursday.
In this context, Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) has signed a memorandum of cooperation with Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD). It sets out the conditions for transferring land ownership to the national parks, including its management.
"Zoning, by its very nature, transfers ownership and management to the national parks, as that is the very purpose of zoning. The national parks will manage the areas entrusted to them through zoning in their own name and within the framework of their own legal personality. We consider it to be appropriate that national parks may, on a voluntary basis and where necessary, cooperate with external companies and also approach state-owned enterprise Lesy SR," remarked Taraba, adding that he regards objections to this as an attempt by private logging companies to take control of the national parks.
In the memorandum, the ministers expressed a shared interest and willingness to cooperate actively in the management of forests. Cooperation will be based on the specific requirements and activities of the national park, with the scope of specific work and the timeframe for carrying out activities to be determined by the national park. "As part of the zoning process, Lesy SR is transferring tens of thousands of hectares of forest to the ownership and management of the national parks. Today's memorandum explains in the simplest possible terms - even for those who wish to exploit this issue for political purposes - that cooperation between national park authorities and state-owned enterprise Lesy SR is on the same voluntary basis as cooperation between other state institutions," added Takac.
The government in early July approved the zoning plans for four national parks - the Tatra, Low Tatras, Poloniny and Mala Fatra National Parks. The approval of the documents forms part of a milestone under Slovakia's Recovery and Resilience Plan.
According to Environment Ministry State Secretary Filip Kuffa, the approved zoning plans undermine the reform of national parks. He said that the conditions of the Recovery Plan have therefore not been met. He sees the problem in the fact that state-run forestry company Lesy SR is supposed to carry out professional forest management and properly care for forest areas and land. He claims that although the territories should formally be transferred under the administration of the national parks, they will in practice remain under the control of the state-run company, which the EC had flagged from the outset as a potential issue affecting the payment linked to national park reform.
Kuffa earlier in the day announced that the EC has backed his position regarding the government's comments on the zoning of national parks, meaning that €450 million from the recovery plan remains at risk. Taraba has rejected these claims, reiterating that the zoning plans were prepared "in an exemplary manner, eliminating thousands of exemptions and reducing room for corruption".
