In her opening address State Secretary underlined the relevance of the Financial Mechanisms that promote bilateral relations and cooperation between Slovenia and the Donor States Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. ‘Slovenia is one of the 15 Beneficiary States and has been part of the EEA and Norway Grants success story ever since 2004. Together we pursue the overall objective of reducing economic and social disparities in Europe and thus contribute to building a Europe of equal opportunities, tolerance, security, environmental sustainability and a decent standard of living. The objectives and the results that we’ve realized in the frame of the EEA and Norway Grants are a solid starting point for establishing a fruitful cooperation in many areas also in the period 2014-2021,’ she underlined.

In the period 2014-2021 the EUR 37.7 million available to Slovenia is allocated to measures in areas such as climate change and renewable energy, education, training and entrepreneurship for young people, work-life balance, good governance and responsible institutions, as well as areas like civil society, social dialogue and decent work. ‘We’re convinced that Slovenia will make good use of the over 37 million euros available to the country and that we’ll fully realise our potential and attain the set objectives and results,’ said State Secretary.      

Ambassador Trine Skymoen stressed the important role the EEA and Norway Grants play in bilateral cooperation. As she said the new programmes open up new opportunities for a fruitful inter-institutional cooperation. ‘The deadline for finalising the projects is April 2024 so we need to make good use of the time we have left,’ she said.

Head of National Focal Point, mag. Nina Seljak said that the process that started with the signing of the memorandums of understanding with the Donor States in April 2018 and ended with the publication of the calls for proposals called for a lot of coordination and good organisation. ‘We faced many challenges along the way, some of them were unexpected – such as the COVID-19 pandemic. By working together and through the commitment of all the relevant institutions and other stakeholders we’ve managed to bring the process to the point much awaited by the interested public,’ she said.

After the launching event the applicant workshop provided the potential applicants with an overview of the call for proposals under the programme Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, worth a little under EUR 15.6 million, and call for proposals under the programme Education – Enhancing Human Capital, worth EUR 11.3 million. The deadline for submitting project proposals for the calls for proposals that were published by Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy in mid-May 2021 is 30 September 2021.