In his opening remarks, Minister Jevšek said that the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development was working on the act on the restructuring of the Savinjsko-Šaleška (SAŠA) region: ''This act will address four intervention areas, namely economic restructuring, energy restructuring, social cohesion and inclusion, and environmental restructuring, to pave the way towards sustainability. A set of measures will be designed for each of the four areas. The co-financed projects will follow these measures. We expect the relevant ministries to reach an agreement on the act by the end of the year.’’

''I would like to underline that the restructuring of the SAŠA region is already underway, independently of the drafting of this intervention act, the Act on the Gradual Closure of the Velenje Coal Mine, and the Act on the Economic Restructuring of the Savinjsko-Šaleška region. And so is the restructuring of the Zasavska region. The two regions will receive over 250 million euros in cohesion funding from the Just Transition Fund. The fund aims to support the regions, the people, and the economies that are expected to be most affected by the transition towards climate neutrality. Cohesion funding is not the only source of funding that will be available, and I already know that cohesion funds alone will not be enough to achieve all our goals,’’ stressed the Minister.  

''Slovenia already has experience with managing coal mine closure as it recently closed the Zasavje coal mine. This experience taught us what we need to do to preserve jobs and support development. We also learned that a just transition depends not only on the amount of money received, but first and foremost, on the support given to the right measures. Such measures must lay the foundation for future development and must be backed by local communities. Just transition will remain difficult to achieve if we design measures without the participation of the regions. That is why ‘nothing about you without you’ is the guiding principle we follow in our work,'' also said minister Jevšek.

Several calls for proposals under the Just Transition Fund are out and some of them are closing. Three calls for proposals were launched and the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development has issued €143 million worth of funding decisions. ''I am pleased to see that the call launched by the Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport has garnered a lot of interest, especially from small and medium-sized enterprises, for productive investments and job creation in both coal regions. We have received many good proposals, which is a testament to the great potential of both cohesion regions,’’ added Minister Jevšek.

He also presented several other measures that are either being designed and discussed or already implemented in the Zasavska and SAŠA coal regions to facilitate their coal exit.