The national auditors examined a sample of sixteen projects worth €23.5 million from two calls for proposals worth €55.2 million in 2024. More than 9,300 nursery places were supported thanks to the IROP resources in the audited projects.

"My fellow auditors did not find any significant irregularities, European resources were used within the limits of legal rules and criteria of economic use of public funds. They did not identify any shortcomings in terms of transparency in the disclosure of information. Still, on the other hand, they described the risks associated with the preparation and management of projects," says Henrieta Crkoňová, Deputy Chairwoman of the Audit Office.

Calls for proposals were announced with a time lag, and binding deadlines were not respected throughout the process. Public procurement was also complicated. "Insufficient measurable indicators were set in the calls and the principle of barrier-free accessibility was not always respected," the SAO deputy head further added. She also pointed out that the calls from the IROP became a strong competitor for the calls from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), which does not require co-financing by applicants. "More than 20 applicants from the audited IROP calls have withdrawn from the contract and are financing their projects through the recovery plan. So we are talking about at least 14 million worth of projects," added Ms Crkoňová. In this context, the SAO warns of the risk of overlapping calls and possible corrections by the European institutions. Therefore, the auditors also recommend that the relevant parliamentary committees oblige the Ministry of Investment, Regional Development and Informatisation and the National Implementation and Coordination Authority to submit the results of the negotiations about the existing problems in the coordination of calls.

Read the full text of the press release about this issue in Slovak language.