As the Prime Minister said, it makes important changes to existing legislation and rights. “The scale of the damage was so great that if we acted in accordance with Slovenian legislation in force for the past 30 years, many people would not recover, so we have significantly increased the rights of all those affected by the floods. Increasing rights also entails the need for additional financial resources.” Individuals, businesses and local communities will all be eligible for help.

Slovenia will first find the financial resources through budget cuts, and then seek additional resources. “State-owned enterprises are those that will make an important contribution to replenishing the budget fund for reconstruction and development in the coming year,” the Prime Minister pointed out, adding that new financial resources are also planned, such as a tax on total assets of banks and savings banks, and a temporary increase in corporate profit or income tax. “We do not plan to impose any tax on individual citizens, and do not expect any taxes on labour,” stressed Robert Golob. The detailed financial impact of the Act will be known when the bill’s exact content is known, i.e. when it is adopted by the Government.

The Act on Reconstruction, Development and Provision of Financial Resources will speed up administrative procedures for obtaining permits, siting and cases of expropriation. In addition, the Act will also adapt the current regulation of watercourse management and landslide mitigation. The bill will be further developed in this area, as it is extremely important that there be a clear separation between the competences of the municipalities and those of the state.

The bill also introduces supervision of the budget fund. “In addition to all the inspections, the Court of Audit and parliamentary scrutiny, we are also introducing professional supervision, because we want the use of money to be fully transparent,” the Prime Minister underlined.

“We want flood-affected areas to be rehabilitated as quickly as possible and at the same time be more resilient to future disasters, which are, unfortunately, almost certainly unavoidable,” the Prime Minister stressed, adding that he was confident that a consensus could be reached.