Country Profile: Slovakia

• Author: Naldini, Andrea; Pompili, Marco; Peruccacci, Eleonora
• Pages: 248-252

248

27.COUN TRY PROFI LE: SLOVAKI A

Introduction

Slovakia is acentralised country, where the evaluation culture is still gradually

dev eloping and th ere is no legal obli gation t o ev aluat e St ate aidschem es.

The ev aluation of public invest men ts as w ell as St ate ai dis sti ll g radu ally dev eloping in

Slovakia. I n recentyears, the gov ernment started to establish inst itutions an d em ploy

civ il serv ant s f ocuse d o n ev alu ati on of inv estm en ts fina nced by t he g ene ral gov ern me nt

budget. At present, the national coordinator forState aidschemes in Slovakia is the

Ant imonopol y Office, which succeeded t o the Minist ry of Fin ance.

27.1.Sect ion 1-National r ules for t he evaluation ofSt ate aidschemes

27.1.1.Obligat ion or lack ther eof to evaluat e

I n Sl ovak ia the re is no l egal, ad minist ra tiv e or oth er oblig at ion reg ardi ng the ev aluat ion

of national State aid. Evaluation procedures are mandatory onlyfor ESIF operational

programmes. However, some legal obligations are in force with respect to the

assessment of investment proj ects financed b y public fundin g.

The Slovak government reformed the investment assessment process in 2017 by

adopting the Public InvestmentProject Assessment Framework. The Government

defined amethodological framework for the process and preparation of large

investm ent proj ects and their assessm ent in line wit hthe “Value for Money ” p rinciples.

Moreover, the Ministry of Economy is providing regional investment aid aimed at

increasing the competitiveness and econom ic development of least developed regions

via initial investm ent support. Although the Ministry does not carry out evaluations of

these investments, the eligibility criteria for support are legally binding and each

potential beneficiary needs to fulfil the criteria. Any business registered in Slovakia

whose investment project fulfils t he conditions for being gr anted investm ent aid un der

the Region al In vest me nt Aid Act may ap ply fo r r egio nal inv estme nt aid. Th e in vest me nt

projectmust successfully pass the process of investment aid application assessment

and regional investment aid approval. There is no legal entitlement to being granted

regional invest ment aid.

27.1.2.Proced ures t o enfor ce t he o bligation

Even if no legal obligations exist to evaluate State aidschemes, some legal obligations

are in force with respect to t he invest men t p roj ects.

TheMinistry of Finance is obligated to prepare and publish the assessment of the

investm ent pr oj ects fun ded fro m publ ic r esour ces of the g ener al g over nm ent with cost s

above EUR 40million., or above EUR 10millionin the area of inform ation technology.

The spending revision is carried out by the Value for Money Unit atthe Ministry of

Finance.

The implementation of the measures identified by the revisions conducted since

2017are monitored by the Implementation Unitlocated atDeputy Prime Minister‘s

Off ice for I nvestment s and I nformatisat ion of t he Slov ak rep ublic.