"Slovenia will not agree to centralise Cohesion Policy money as is done in the Recovery and Resilience Plan. Cohesion Policy is meant to benefit regions. We want strong regions. Our aim is to strengthen regions. This was underlined in Mario Draghi's report on the future of EU competitiveness and the European Commission’s ninth cohesion report. Indeed, this was instructed to the new Commissioner-designate for Cohesion and Reforms by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.”

According to Minister Jevšek, attempts to centralise the future Cohesion Policy and merge all funds and programmes at the national level under a single document means that we are moving away from cities and regions which are the ones closest to citizens and are therefore better able to identify people’s needs. “This is not only Slovenia’s position, but the position of 15 EU Member States, the so-called Friends of Cohesion.”

The next Cohesion Policy programming period will start once the legislative framework is adopted. The multiannual financial framework should be adopted in the second half of 2025 and the relevant regulations by the end of 2027, said Minister Jevšek, adding that “Slovenia is committed to keeping the amount of Cohesion Policy funds at least at the same level as in the current financial perspective".

The Minister also highlighted Slovenia’s very successful participation in cross-border and transnational Interreg programmes. We share common challenges with other countries and regions, which can only be tackled effectively if we work together, the Minister said.

In September, the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development launched a public consultation on the future of cohesion policy beyond 2027. Today’s 2^nd national consultation focused on topics that go beyond the national border. It presented the recommendations of the Group of High-level Specialists on the Future of Cohesion Policy, international experiences to improve the efficiency of Cohesion Policy funds spending and the benefits of cooperation in cross-border projects. The Ministry will forward the proposals and opinions received at the consultations to the European Commission to establish a better and more flexible legislative framework for the Cohesion Policy beyond 2027.