Crisis fund helps Trnava region municipalities in troubled times

Slovakia is in the grip of a government crisis over the purchase of Sputnik V vaccine

For over ten years now, Slovakia’s Trnava self-governing region has been running a crisis fund, from which member cities and municipalities can draw money to prevent or deal with the fallout of natural disasters. According to mytrnava.sme.sk, almost EUR 90,000 went last year from the fund to municipalities to reimburse the costs they incurred in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, municipalities received more than EUR 80,000 for water retention projects.

Co-ownership is essential

The Central Crisis Fund was established in 2009 on the basis of the Memorandum on Partnership and Cooperation of the Trnava Self-Governing Region and Regional Associations of Towns and Municipalities. The fund is pooled by contributions from municipalities, cities and the self-governing region.

"In recent years, we have increasingly encountered emergencies in the form of natural disasters, such as floods, torrential rains, windstorms, fires or other natural anomalies causing major damage to public and private property. The co-ownership and solidarity of the inhabitants of the Trnava region, represented by territorial self-governments, in mitigating the consequences of disasters is extremely important, " emphasized the chairman of the Trnava self-governing region, Jozef Viskupič. He used the opportunity to remind mayors that they have to pay the membership fee to the crisis fund for this year by the end of March.

Member towns and municipalities pay 50 euro cents per inhabitant to the fund, and districts contribute 66 euro cents per inhabitant. Only those municipalities that contribute to the fund can draw from it. So far, the municipalities affected by floods, torrential rains and windstorms have benefited most from the fund. In the past, however, money from the fund also went to address the calamity of mosquitoes on Žitný ostrov and Záhorí.

Government crisis on top of health woes

Two of the 7 districts within Trnava Region – Senica and Scalica – go black from next Monday, 22 March, according to the Covid Automaton, while the rest will enter the dark-red zone (the second most severe degree of infection). Slovakia as a whole is still in the black tier and despite the slight improvement in the epidemiological situation, the government decided on Wednesday to extend the State of Emergency by 40 more days.

Earlier this month, Slovakia became the second EU member state after Hungary to procure the Russian Sputnik V vaccine without EMA registration, a move that exposed rifts in the ruling centre-right coalition. Two smaller coalition partners - the Freedom and Solidarity party and For the People – demanded (and got) the resignation of Health Minister Marek Krajci. They now threaten to leave the government, unless Prime Minister Igor Matovic steps down.