Slovak households may soon undergo a detailed lustration by state authorities. This is supposedly necessary for setting up a system of targeted energy assistance. Members of the National Council have already quickly approved the law on the provision of data for the purpose of targeted energy assistance. The need for the law is defended by its creator, the Ministry of Economy According to the Ministry of Economy, the reason for drafting the bill was the need to create a legislative framework for the collection and analysis of socio-economic data.
That is, on income, benefits and contributions, which form the income side of households, and other information, such as in particular the size and nature of energy and water consumption, which form the expenditure side of households. „The aim of data collection and analysis is to create and fill a logically structured database operated by the ministry, which will be transformed into a comprehensive information system for evaluating the threat of individual households to energy poverty and the degree of their threat when creating a register of consumption points with all relevant data necessary for institutionalizing the system of targeted energy assistance,“ the Ministry of Economy defends the need for the law.
Based on the approved law, the ministry will be able to collect existing data from individual providers and work with them further in a way that will create a basis for evaluating the degree of threat of individual households in the Slovak Republic to energy poverty and identifying those households that will be recipients of targeted energy assistance. However, not all households have to undergo lustration. Progressive Slovakia managed to push through an amendment in parliament that is intended to protect the personal data of people who do not want to be part of the collection of data for the needs of targeted energy assistance from the government. „According to our amendment proposal, which was approved by parliament, any citizen will have the opportunity to opt out of the collection and analysis of data on their income and assets for the purposes of targeting energy aid,“ said Ivan Stefunko, vice-chairman of Progressive Slovakia.
