MŽP will send three billion for the insulation of public buildings

Prague - The Ministry of the Environment will send an additional three billion crowns for the insulation of public buildings. This aims to reduce the looming loss of funds from EU sources. At today's 10th annual Czech Construction Forum conference, Minister for Regional Development (MMR) Věra Jourová stated this. Her ministry is the coordinator of the operational programs.
    "We will issue a call for three billion crowns for the insulation of public buildings from European funds available to the Ministry of the Environment," said the head of MMR, adding that it will be a quick call to ensure that the funds allocated in the Operational Program Environment for this year are utilized.
    For the sixtieth call from the OP Environment, the Ministry of the Environment has allocated 3.5 billion crowns, of which three billion is designated for the insulation of public buildings, Jana Taušová from the press department of the Ministry of the Environment told ČTK.
    Applications will be accepted from March 5 to April 30, and they can be submitted by municipalities, cities, regions, contribution organizations, and even state-owned enterprises. The funds can be used for construction and reconstruction, energy savings, and the utilization of waste heat. Projects completed after 2007 can also be submitted.
    The Operational Program Environment is the most problematic in terms of drawing funds from European sources. Last year alone, it did not utilize almost 5.3 billion crowns that it could have. Even more money may be lost this year. "The greatest risk of unutilized funds threatens the Operational Program Environment, where estimates speak of up to 13 billion crowns," Jourová stated at the beginning of February. The new call is one of the measures to reduce the expected loss.
    Another option is to also pay for already completed constructions from European funds. The head of MMR also allows for this. "We are also preparing the possibility of refunding already existing constructions from European funds (i.e., retroactive reimbursement). The programming period ends next year, so we cannot start any new major constructions," Jourová warned.
    However, other operational programs are also facing problems with drawing funds, such as the OP Research and Development for Innovations or the OP Entrepreneurship and Innovations. In total, the Czech Republic could lose up to 24 billion crowns this year. Last year, it did not utilize ten billion crowns, the highest amount among EU countries.
    Czechia could have obtained up to 800 billion crowns in the ending programming period 2007-2013. Domestic recipients of subsidies from European funds, however, had received 514.9 billion crowns by the beginning of this January. This amounts to 63.7 percent of the total amount available to Czechia during these years. Of the total amount already paid out, the Ministry of Finance has requested reimbursement from the European Commission for 385.5 billion crowns, or 47.7 percent of the total amount. Authorities consider this sum to be the truly utilized subsidies.