The Ministry of the Environment will accelerate and simplify drawing subsidies from Operational Programme “Environment”

Press release: 15.12.2011

Simplified administration of the Operational Programme “Environment”, more effective drawing of funds, renewal of certification and a new call for public buildings – these are topics that were submitted by the Ministry of the Environment to the Monitoring Committee of the Operational Programme “Environment”.

In the context of attempts to accelerate drawing of EU funds and to make up for the delays in recent years, in 2012 the Ministry of the Environment will announce calls in the Operational Programme “Environment” for the entire remaining allocation and will also immediately commence further steps to reduce the complexity of its procedures and to simplify administration of funds from the Operational Programme “Environment”. Calls for applications will be announced for all the funds not allocated so far, so that funds are allocated for all the specific projects of individual applicants during 2012 (in the first quarter of 2013 at the latest).

Funds from the Operational Programme “Environment” will thus go to their recipients a year prior to the end of the programme period and the recipients will then have 3 years to complete implementation of their projects and request payment. “At the present time, this is the maximum that can be done to eliminate the risk of not drawing all the European funds,” explained the First Deputy Minister of the Environment, Jakub Kulíšek.

The Ministry of the Environment has recorded a substantial increase in applications for subsidies for implementation of projects to improve flood services and preventative flood protection or concerned with reducing flood flow rates through a system of semi-natural flood-prevention measures. Five calls were announced within the framework of support area 1.3 – Reducing the risk of floods; three of these calls were announced in the past two years and the Ministry of the Environment anticipates that another will be announced during the next year.

Up to the present time, 165 applications have been approved, with overall costs of CZK 1,457,642,378 and a further 169 applications with overall costs of CZK 1,198,384,887 are in the evaluation stage (they were submitted in the framework of the last, i.e. 27th call).

A number of positive changes have taken place in the area of certification of expenditures from the Operational Programme “Environment”. Primarily, communication with the European Commission in this area improved in the fourth quarter of 2011. The Managing Authority of the Operational Programme “Environment” fulfilled all the requirements of the Commission related to performance of audits focused on control of management and control systems, accounting deadlines and control of public contracts. The latest requirement of the European Commission for renewal of certification is related to the current negotiations on in-depth controls for a selected sample of projects (92 projects).

n the framework of the certification process, in October 2011 the certification authority (i.e. the Ministry of Finance) renewed at the national level both payment of summary applications and also the process of certification of expenditures from the Operational Programme “Environment” at the national level. The 5th certification of expenditures from the Operational Programme “Environment” was announced. Currently, the certification process is in the phase of control of the mentioned documents. “We are convinced that the certification process for expenditures from the Operational Programme “Environment” will regain its regular order after complying with the last requirements of the European Commission,” added Mr. Kulíšek.

At the beginning of next year, the Ministry of the Environment will commence receiving applications for insulation of public buildings. It is anticipated that subsidies will have a volume of CZK 2.5 billion. At the present time, the Ministry of the Environment is awaiting final approval on the part of the European Commission, which can be expected at the end of this year. The call will include project applications from the public building segment and also projects that were not supported in the framework of the Green Investment Scheme. The call for submitting projects for energy savings (insulation) is planned for February and March 2012. In relation to a change in the relevant Directive, which the European Commission has modified, it will be necessary to rewrite some of the mandatory schedules for some projects.

Michaela Jendeková, tiskové oddělení MŽP