The Operational Programme Fisheries 2014-2020 was unreadable, administratively demanding and lengthy for beneficiaries. The programme was approved by the European Commission on 15 July 2015 and the first calls were only launched in December 2016. By comparison, in the Czech Republic it took six months. A total of 34 calls and invitations were launched under the programme, 24 of which had to be withdrawn by the managing authority at various points in the programming period. In nine cases, this was because nobody responded to the call. Despite the fact that even small projects have received assistance from this programme, and that Union support has amounted to around EUR 16 000 in some cases, the administration has been as demanding as when obtaining funding for the construction of motorways or hospitals. "In the case of a motorway, however, the project contractor does not have to count on the risk of zero production. For fisheries entrepreneurs, this is also why EU funds are risky. If, for example, their fish get sick, they have nothing to sell and therefore do not meet the measurable indicators and have to repay the EU funds," explained the vice-president of the Supreme Audit Office. "As the co-financing rate for these calls was 50 %, those who were not financially strong even before the adoption of the EU funds had no chance to withstand the sanctions. Therefore, some entrepreneurs withdrew their applications or did not submit them at all," added Mr Ivančo.

The full text of the press release about this issue in Slovak language is available here.