At the beginning of March 2023, a European regulation entered into force that foresees the inclusion of the objectives of the REPowerEU plan to end dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the green transition in the national Recovery and Resilience Plans as a separate chapter. For these purposes, Slovenia can count on €117 million from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme’s Market Stability Reserve and €5 million from the European fund to help Member States cope with the negative consequences of Brexit.

The starting points for the preparation of the new chapter of REPowerEU, which were adopted by the Government on Thursday 16 March 2023, were presented today by Government representatives to the interested public at a public consultation organised by the Recovery and Resilience Office, the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy, and the Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport.

By way of introduction, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Saša Jazbec, outlined the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan and presented the planned adjustments. "Unlike cohesion policy, where the disbursement of EU funds from Brussels is conditional on the implementation of project activities, the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan is linked to the achievement of milestones and targets in implementing the planned measures – reforms and investments. Member States are only as successful in drawing down funds as they are in achieving the planned milestones and targets," she stressed.

The starting points for the new chapter of REPowerEU were presented by the State Secretary of the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy, Tina Seršen. In preparing the content of the new chapter, the Government has followed the principle of complementarity with the existing measures of the plan, paying particular attention to the feasibility of implementing the measures by the end of the programming period. In addition to investments, the Government must propose to the European Commission the related reforms that are a precondition for benefiting from European funds for recovery and resilience. To achieve the objectives of the REPowerEU plan, it is crucial to make additional legislative changes and investments in the field of renewable energy sources (RES). In the starting points, the Government therefore proposes two reforms, i.e. the entry into force of the Act on the siting of facilities for the production of electricity from renewable energy sources and of the Act on alternative fuels infrastructure and the promotion of the transition to alternative fuels in transport. On the investment side, the Government proposes to implement the following measures: promoting the restructuring of existing district energy systems to RES systems (€20 million); energy efficiency, renewable energy and decarbonisation of the economy (€42 million); strengthening the electricity distribution network (€20 million); and investing in infrastructure for alternative fuels in transport and zero-emission mobility (€42 million).

The two state secretaries, together with the Secretary of State of the Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport, Matevž Frangež, and the Director of the Recovery and Resilience Office, Josip Mihalic, then answered questions from the participants.

The participants agreed that it would not be possible to address all green transition topics in the REPowerEU chapter, not least because of the time constraints of the Recovery and Resilience Plan programming period, which ends at the end of 2026. They stressed the importance of complementarity. This is because topics to reach the green targets are implemented through different financial sources.

The organisers of the consultation invited the participants to submit their suggestions in writing. The Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy and the Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport will consider the suggestions and take a decision on them.

In the coming weeks, the Government will continue to coordinate the starting points for the preparation of proposed adjustments to the plan. The Government will also informally coordinate the content of the proposed adjustments with the European Commission before submitting them to Brussels for formal consideration and endorsement.

More about the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan: noo.gov.si.