The claims that EU funds earmarked for this purpose have been withheld are unfounded, since the negotiations on the new EU financial perspective have not yet begun.

The Ministry is in constant touch with the European Commission and the World Bank. The regular meetings are also held according to a set schedule.

The programme is currently undergoing subsequent modification stages, focusing on increasing its efficiency. The Ministry of Environment envisions a number of changes simplifying the application and the verification procedure. We are also planning to involve local governments, which declared their willingness to cooperate and join the process of verifying and accepting applications. The pilot launch of the programme involving municipalities will take place in July, opening a new distribution channel. This is going to significantly speed up the work and allow us to estimate the costs of managing the programme covered by local governments.