In her introductory note the State Secretary underlined that Slovenia in preparing for the implementation of European Cohesion Policy in the programming period 2021-2027. “Together with the ministries, we have made significant progress in recent months in terms of programming the contents and coordinating documents with the European Commission. The umbrella bases for the implementation of cohesion in the period 2021-2027 should be prepared at the national level by the end of this year” she said.

Similar to the previous period, Member States will have to meet the so-called eligibility conditions before the actual implementation of actions co-financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds. These are strategic bases that will ensure that all the co-financed projects or programmes are in line with the EU policy framework," emphasized the State Secretary.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy acting as the Managing Authority monitors the progress in the preparation of enabling conditions and in the role of the developer of Slovenia’s Smart Specialisation Strategy (S4) coordinates its renewal, which will be in line with the new EU guidelines. In addition to research, development and innovation, the renewed version of the strategy will have to cover the areas of digitalisation, growth and competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as the area of ​​knowledge and skills for smart specialisation. The renewal process is ongoing and is taking place in cooperation with the relevant ministries and implementing organisations and the SRIP coordinators.

The workshop represents the official start of the next round of the business discovery process in the light of the S4 renewal, which includes relevant stakeholders through the SRIP.