EP will send new mission to Slovakia

As a direct reaction to complaints filed by Slovak farmers in the European Parliament, the EU Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) on Thursday approved a proposal to send a new inspection mission to Slovakia, MEP Ivan Štefanec informed. The mission should take place by the end of 2018. Its goal is to map out cases in which the rules for redistributing EU funds have been violated, chiefly in the farming sector. The European Parliament mission will be led by the head of the Committee on Budgetary Control head, Ingeborg Grassle, who visited Slovakia this March as part of the EP monitoring mission following the murders of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová. During its session on Thursday, CONT held discussions with Agricultural Payment Agency (PPA) general director Juraj Kožuch concerning the use of EU funds in Slovak farming policy.