Following Slovenia's submission of its request for the first instalment of the grant to Brussels last October, the European Commission announced today that it has given a preliminary positive assessment of the application. The assessment will be forwarded to the Economic and Financial Committee for information and opinion. Once the Commission has given its final positive assessment, it will issue a decision formally authorising the payment of the financial contribution of just under EUR 50 million. "We expect this in April," said Minister Klemen Boštjančič at a press conference with the European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni.
Slovenia will benefit from EUR 1.5 billion in grants from the Facility and plans to use EUR 705 million of reimbursable funds to implement the measures of the Recovery and Resilience Plan. Slovenia is currently covering the activities of ongoing projects through an advance payment (EUR 231 million) received in September 2021. As the Minister said, the effects of the EU funds are already visible and can be felt by citizens. He highlighted some completed and ongoing projects: the upgrade of the Ljubljana-Jesenice and Ljubljana-Divača railway lines, the upgrade of the Grosuplje railway station, the digitalisation of the economy, the upgrade of the clinic for infectious diseases at the UKC Ljubljana and the Pod Pekrsko gorco residential neighbourhood in Maribor, which is one of 34 projects of this kind that will be implemented under the plan.
Full article available on Portal GOV.SI.
