The Government started considering the proposal of the Long-Term Care Act and the proposed amendment to the Social Assistance Act. The Government suspended consideration of the two proposals, which will be sent to the Economic and Social Council before the Government approves them, which is expected to take place at a correspondence session.

Decree on aid to promote the deployment of energy from renewable sources, storage and heat from renewable sources

Investments in new generation units will be eligible for aid, depending on the rated capacity, as well as for various technologies aimed at generating electricity and heat from renewable energy sources, as well as the storage of such electricity and heat, namely:

• the generation of electricity from solar energy, geothermal energy and hydropower with a rated capacity equal to or less than 1 MW, or equal to or less than 6 MW if the generation unit is 100% owned by small or medium-sized enterprises or a renewable energy sources community that is a legal person;
• the generation of electricity from wind energy with a rated capacity equal to or less than 1 MW, or equal to or less than 18 MW if the generation unit is 100% owned by small or micro enterprises or RES communities;
• cogeneration of electricity and heat from wood biomass, geothermal energy, biogas, landfill gas and gas produced by sewage treatment plants;
• heat generation from wood biomass, ambient, solar and geothermal energy, including heat pumps.

These projects may also include the storage of electrical or thermal energy.

Those eligible for aid include legal persons, cooperatives, natural persons engaged in a gainful activity and self-governing local communities.

A total of EUR 150 million will be available for grants. The call is expected to be issued in September 2023 and will be overseen by the Support Centre Borzen d.o.o.

Source:  Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy

Updates to the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan: the Government takes note of the draft (June 2023)

The Government took note of the draft updated Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) and will submit it to the European Commission and the National Assembly by 30 June 2023.

The Government instructed the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy to submit for consideration and adoption the updated Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan of the Republic of Slovenia by 30 June 2024.

The Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy, responsible for energy (formerly the Ministry of Infrastructure), began activities in 2022 to update the NECP, including:

• securing comprehensive technical support, provided by a consortium of institutions headed by the Jožef Stefan Institute (spring 2022),
• fully updating the NECP website (summer 2022),
• drafting an indicative plan of public consultation (summer 2022),
• initiating the comprehensive environmental impact assessment procedure (summer 2022),
• drafting the NECP Implementation Report (for 2020) (summer 2022),
• holding the first (preliminary) public consultation regarding the goals and guidelines for updates to the NECP (autumn 2022),
• setting up the Interministerial Working Group for the NECP and the Long-term Climate Strategy, which already started its work,
• starting updating the expert bases (autumn 2022),
• securing comprehensive expert and technical support to carry out a comprehensive environmental impact assessment, provided by a consortium of institutions headed by Elektroinštitut Milan Vidmar (the EIMV) (spring 2023),
• completing the first comprehensive two-year reporting to the European Commission on the implementation of the NECP and drafting a summary report (spring 2023),
• drafting the Consultation Document – NECP Update Scenarios (spring 2023),
• holding the second public consultation regarding the NECP update scenarios (spring 2023),
• completing one cycle of inter-ministerial coordination regarding the NECP update scenarios (with an emphasis on guidelines and goals),
• drafting the first draft of the updated NECP, which was provided to the Government for its information and will be submitted to the European Commission by 30 June 2023 pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999.

This first draft of the updated NECP contains draft updates to the expert bases (i.e. Chapter 4 of the NECP) and draft updates to the NECP guidelines and goals (Chapter 2 of the NECP). This draft does not contain draft updates to policies and measures (Chapter 3 of the NECP) and is without prejudice to the final updated NECP.

For the purpose of programming the NECP measures (Chapter 3 of the NECP), all ministries must carefully review the measures in the current NECP relating to them and submit by 30 June 2023 to the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy a comprehensive response, indicating which measures should be preserved and in what form in the updated NECP, including proposals for new measures, in order to achieve the most ambitious energy and climate goals possible by 2030. Based on the obtained comments and proposals, previously received comments from the public consultation and the draft updated expert bases, the programming of measures for the updated NECP will be carried out in the summer and autumn of 2023. In relation to this, increased interministerial coordination will take place in autumn 2023 to draw up comprehensive draft updates to the NECP goals, policies and measures (i.e. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 of the NECP), on whose basis an environmental report can be drafted.

Consultation with neighbouring countries is envisaged for autumn 2023 and the receipt of recommendations from the European Commission by the end of the year. Expert bases will be updated at the beginning of 2024. In spring of 2024, a comprehensive environmental impact assessment and another public consultation will be completed. Based on these activities and taking into account proposals from ongoing consultation with the ministries, the draft updated NECP will be amended, supplemented and upgraded as appropriate. The updated NECP will be adopted by the Government and submitted to the European Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 by 30 June 2024.

Source:  Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy

Proposed amendment to the Agriculture Act

At today's government meeting, the amendment to the Agriculture Act was adopted.

The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have had, and continue to have, a profound impact on the global economy and on the food supply chain from farmer to consumer.

They have also shown how important it is for every country to ensure its food security.

As a country, our aim is to be able to respond effectively and quickly to such external factors affecting the food chain.

That is why we have put in place a mechanism to collect and monitor data from farmer to customer.

With the data that will be obtained along the food chain, it will be possible to react quickly and effectively, to help sectors in difficulty or rather to encourage sectors to be even more efficient.

As a country, we have a duty to ensure self-sufficiency and food security for our citizens. Another important element of food security is the affordability of food for consumers.

The Agriculture Act provides for two key amendments. The first amendment concerns the transfer of responsibility for monitoring the prices of agricultural and food products from the Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food.

The amendment to the Act establishes the legal basis for collecting and analysing data on prices, quantities and origin in the food supply chain. The Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for ensuring food security in Slovenia. The Agency for Agricultural Markets and Rural Development will collect buy-in and selling prices per unit, buy-in and selling quantities and data on the origin of products. The following inspection authorities will be involved in monitoring the reporting:

• the Inspectorate for Agriculture with producers
• Administration for Food Safety, Veterinary Sector and Plant Protection with processors and intermediaries
• the market inspection service with traders.

The second amendment to the Act concerns the preservation and development of agriculture across state borders. It regulates the legal basis for the financing of agricultural activities of agricultural, development and educational organisations of Slovenians over the state borders.

Agricultural organisations will be financed based on annual work programmes. The Act also provides for a commission for the selection of organisations and the approval of the multiannual programme, as well as a commission for the review of the annual work programmes and reports on the accomplished tasks under the annual work programme, which shall be composed of representatives of the Ministry and of the office for minorities living across the border.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food