To ensure drinking water for Slovenian Istria and the Karst hinterland, the Government today approved medium-term investments for which it will provide funds from the budget and cohesion policy, and decided to abandon the Suhorca reservoir.

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted a reply to the interpellation on its work and responsibilities and will send it to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. The Government of the Republic of Slovenia rejects in their entirety all the allegations made in the interpellation concerning the alleged inadequacy of its conduct as unfounded. The Government notes that it has been successful in its work and has achieved its challenging objectives. The allegations made by the authors of the interpellation concerning the inadequate conduct of the Government or its individual members are entirely unfounded and, in terms of content, mostly completely inappropriate.

The proposal of the amendment to the Act on Measures for Management of Crisis Conditions in the Field of Energy Supply is drafted to implement Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2576 and provides for the mandatory pooling of natural gas demand at the EU level through an information platform to be set up specifically for joint gas purchasing in the European Union. A Member State must ensure the participation of gas undertakings and gas-using companies to a minimum of 15% of the volumes under the European Regulation. The amendment to the act contains an added obligation for the holder of the balancing group to participate in the European joint procurement in case of natural gas demand, for a prescribed mandatory volume of 2.25% of the average annual consumption. Due to legal uncertainties and practical implementation challenges, the amendment to the act no longer foresees an obligation to establish community self-supply for companies in which the State or a local community has an equity investment.

The Government adopted the proposal to amend the Act on Emergency Intervention to Address High Energy Prices, in particular as regards the payment of surplus market revenues. The newly proposed act limits the payment of surplus market revenues to producers only, lowering the limit from the current €180/kWh to €160/kWh. It also specifies more precisely the entities liable for the payment of the surplus market revenue, i.e. electricity producers whose total capacity of the installed generators exceeds 100kW. The validity period of the measure is also limited by this amendment to the period from 1 December 2022 to 30 June 2023, in the same way as provided for by the European Regulation. In implementing the provision, the act provides for a decision to be issued once for the whole period. As a consequence, the implementation of the act is no longer based on the records of the liable entities, but on their reports and evidence sent to the Energy Agency. The amendment also provides for several details regarding record keeping, issuing of decisions, second-instance dispute resolution, etc. Penalties for violation of the provisions of the act are also redefined. In addition, the act adds imported coal to the exemptions of resources from which surplus revenue is not paid. The proposed amendment to the act also provides that the reference for investment aid for new investments is to be based on the new, amended Temporary Framework for State Aid Measures, as this extends the validity of possible investment aid until 31 December 2025.