Consent to proposed amendments to the Act Amending the Agriculture Act

At today’s session of the Government Committee on the Economy, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia agreed with the proposed amendments to the Act Amending the Agriculture Act (summary proceedings). The act proposal was submitted to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia for consideration on 23 December 2022. The amendments were drafted on the basis of the opinion of the National Assembly’s Legislative and Legal Service, and they partly observe the opinion of the relevant service and subsequently improve the text of the act proposal.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food (MKGP) prepared a proposal to amend the Agriculture Act (ZKme-1) due to the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy or the implementation of the new 2023–2027 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan for Slovenia. The proposed amendment supplements the existing legal basis to commence the implementation of CAP as of 1 January 2023 and is thus harmonised with the EU acquis. To a greater extent, the proposed amendment defines in more detail a special administrative procedure in order to implement the 2023–2027 CAP Strategic Plan (monitoring system of areas, crisis measures of rural development policy, implementation of financial instruments, implementation of community-led local development, administrative and on-site controls, administrative sanctions, disbursements and refunds, forms of public calls, informative decisions) and introduce several general adjustments for the implementation of the 2023–2027 CAP Strategic Plan and other solutions relating to payments, records and operations of the Food Supply Chain Relationships Ombudsman.

Following the Government’s adoption of the proposed Act Amending the Agriculture Act, the National Assembly’s Legislative and Legal Service submitted comments to the proposed amendments to the ZKme-1 on 24 January 2023, which are for the most part already included in the amendments. The main comments referred to the definition of the paying agency, implementation of surveys, administrative sanctions, definition of local action groups, on-site inspection and additional examination on the grounds, sum for abandonment of recovery (with or without interest), deadline for decision on refund, early dismissal of the Food Supply Chain Relationships Ombudsman, payment for temporary or occasional work in agriculture, record of work tasks and record of landscape characteristics for the purpose of conditionality, and agricultural policy measures.

Government reallocates the funds of the state budget

Within the framework of the financial plan of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, the Government reallocated the funds in the amount of EUR 1 million at the session of the Government Committee on State Organisation and Public Affairs. The funds will be earmarked for the payment of a refund under direct payments in agriculture to final beneficiaries, to which they are entitled based on the single application from 2021.

The Government also carried out certain transfers of appropriations from the financial plan of the Ministry of Finance to that of the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities in the total amount of EUR 744,000. The funds will be earmarked for the payment of a dearness allowance for children in February 2023 and the reimbursement of implementing legal measures related to COVID-19.