Without a change in the process of redistributing European Union (EU) funds, the replacement of Construction and Regional Development Minister Marian Janušek will be merely a belated gesture, M.R. Štefánik Conservative Institute analyst Dušan Sloboda said on April 14, shortly after Janušek resigned over a much-criticised tender involving European money.

“Minister Janušek will leave, but the cronyism and corruption surrounding EU Funds will remain unchanged. If the conditions in Slovakia don’t change, it hasn’t been ruled out that the European Commission may decide to suspend paying EU Funds, as has been the case with Bulgaria,” he told the TASR newswire.

Janušek lost his post after an investigation found that his ministry had violated the Public Procurement Act in the so-called ‘bulletin-board tender’, for a €120-million tender to provide various types of services in connection with the expenditure of EU funds. The findings of the investigation, which was carried out by the Public Procurement Office (ÚVO), were announced on April 8. On April 14, Janušek announced he would step down – after being warned by Prime Minister Robert Fico that if he did not he would be sacked.

Article was published in the Slovakia`s English-language weekly The Slovak Spectator.