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Minister Zvone Černač visits the Gorenjska region

  • Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy
As part of the government visit to the region, the Minister for Development and European Cohesion Policy today met with the officials from the municipalities of Kranjska Gora, Žirovnica and Cerklje na Gorenjskem and with the CEOs of the Public Utility Company Tabre and the NGEN company to discuss EU funding opportunities.

After the government working meeting, Minister Zvone Černač met with the mayor of Kranjska Gora Janez Hočevar. Many businesses operating in the municipality have been successful in applying for EU funding, especially businesses working in the tourism sector. At the meeting, the municipal officials outlined the municipality’s investment plans and identified potential barriers to accessing EU funding in the new programming period 2021-2027. The Minister and vice-mayor visited the Public Utility Company Tabre and learned first-hand about the issue of obstacles to accessing finance for water supply and wastewater collection and treatment projects.

The Minister later stopped in municipality Žirovnica to meet with the mayor Leopold Pogačar, vice-mayor and head of municipal administration. The Minister also visited the NGEN Company. NGEN CEO Roman Bernard outlined the company’s business model which includes services such as consultation for energy transition projects, energy portfolio analyses, assistance in access to finance for energy investments as well as products such as battery storage systems, software and hardware for advanced green energy solutions for consumers. The Minister and the CEO touched on funding opportunities under the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027. The Minister expressed satisfaction with what he had seen in the company.

In Cerklje na Gorenjskem, the Minister met with the mayor Franc Čebulj. They discussed the local settlement patterns and the issue of agglomeration planning which often hinder access to EU funding for water supply and wastewater treatment projects. In this regard, the Minister underlined that ‘’while negotiating the Recovery and Resilience Plan, Slovenian authorities secured grants for small-scale water and wastewater projects below 2,000 PE or 10,000 PE. The Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning will publish a call for proposals in the coming days. Support will be available for ready to go projects’’.

The Minister ended the visit to the region by attending a panel discussion featuring ministers, mayors, businessmen and other regional development players.