Minister for Development and European Cohesion Policy dr Aleksander Jevšek attended a session of the Development Council of the Posavje Region at the Sevnica Castle. The discussion with the mayors of the Posavje region mainly focused on EU funding options under the next programming period.
“After reaching an agreement on Slovenia’s Cohesion Policy Programme, the programme will be formally submitted to Brussels. The EUR 3.2 billion programme will be adopted by the end of 2022 with the launch of the first calls for proposals already in spring 2023,” said Minister Jevšek and thanked everyone who participated in drafting the programme.
As this programming period is two years shorter than the previous one, Minister Jevšek underlined the relevance of implementing projects as soon as possible. “We intend to simplify procedures regarding implementation and verification of the use of EU funding to ensure that beneficiaries are reimbursed quickly,” said the Minister.
Minister Jevšek also drew attention to the upcoming launch of Interreg projects: “We can expect the first calls for proposals already in December 2022. From 2023 onwards, Swiss Contribution funding will also be available for investments in renewable energy sources.”
Towards the end of the discussion, the participants also spoke about the dynamics of finalising the projects under the closing programming period 2014-2020. Minister Jevšek said that the European Commission took note of the difficulties regarding project implementation caused by the rising prices, the war in Ukraine, and the energy crisis that all EU Member States are facing. Thus, the European Commission decided to extend the deadline for such projects by the end of 2023. Each Member State will individually address the difficulties related to implementing concrete projects following their national legislative framework.