At the meeting, organised by SPOT Consulting Koroška in cooperation with the Koroška Chamber of Commerce, the State Secretary said that Slovenia had allocated a great deal of EU Cohesion Policy funds to promote entrepreneurship, including the construction of business zones in all Slovenian regions, including the Koroška region. ‘This year, Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy approved EU funds for two business zones in the Koroška region. The European Regional Development Fund will contribute EUR 890,000 for a project worth EUR 2 million that will result in the expansion and arrangement of the Otiški vrh Business Zone in the municipality of Dravograd. The European Regional Development Fund will contribute almost EUR 1.3 million for the project worth EUR 2.3 million to expand the Pameče 3 Business Zone which will be implemented by the Municipality of Slovenj Gradec within the framework of the Agreement for the Development of the Koroška Region. The expansion of economic and business infrastructure is of regional importance as the two investments will promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, and create jobs by establishing adequate infrastructural conditions,’ she explained.

State Secretary went on to present the investment areas of European Cohesion Policy 2021-2027 and the Slovenian Recovery and Resilience Plan: ‘In line with the complementarity principle, the funding available under the Recovery and Resilience Plan will be combined with the 2021-2027 Cohesion Policy funds. This will increase the added value of the planned measures.’

State Secretary explained that investments supported by EU funds will over the next decade focus on green issues: ‘With the European Green Deal, the EU has committed itself to zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 which will thus be the main objective of future investments supported by EU funds under the NextGenerationEU instrument and the seven-year budget.’ Slovenia will allocate just under EUR 1.8 billion in grants and more than EUR 700 million in loans from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism to green transition, digital transformation, support for the economic, research and development, education, healthcare, social security and housing policy. 42.45 percent of the funding available under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, namely a little less than EUR 1.054 billion, will be allocated to realising the set climate goals. Slovenia will allocate 21.46 percent of funds or EUR 532.75 million for the digitalisation of the economy and the public sector.

In the frame of European Cohesion Policy 2021-2027 Slovenia is eligible to approximately EUR 3.2 billion. ‘The programming process is expected to be completed by the end of this year, and formal approval of the documents, like most Member States, is expected in the middle of next year. In Slovenia, we will give priority to areas with identified insufficiency, namely measures to increase productivity, digitalisation, railway connectivity, sustainable mobility, missing major wastewater collection and treatment systems, the third development axis, major systems to ensure adequate drinking water quality, energy-saving renovation buildings, investments in renewable energy sources, etc. Slovenia will support investments in economic development. We will allocate one third of the funds available under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, one third of the React-EU initiative and approximately half of the European Regional Development Fund contribution within the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027 to support companies,’ the State Secretary added.