At the press conference, Prime Minister Robert Golob began by pointing out that the adopted amendments to the ZOPNN address the key challenges faced by municipal authorities in establishing basic infrastructure: “The State has committed itself to covering all the costs of responding to the damage on the one hand, but also to increasing the share of advance payment for rapid rehabilitation measures, from 20% to 40% of the estimated damage. Such advance payment will help municipal services, through their contractors, put actual measures in place as quickly as possible.”

The new amendments to the Act also bring important changes for employers and employees. As the Prime Minister said after the Government session, the State will subsidise wage compensation in the amount of 80% both for temporary lay-offs and in the event of force majeure.

Minister of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning Uroš Brežan further stated that the new amendments to the Act also cover the remediation of the consequences in agriculture, where the Government has followed, among other things, the suggestions of the European Commission, and introduces retroactivity, as the amendments respond to all natural disasters that have affected Slovenia in this year, i.e. from 1 January 2023 onwards.

Under the proposed amendments, the State is funding seven days of emergency leave for all volunteers helping in the affected areas. The Government also decided today to declare 14 August Solidarity Day and make it a work-free day. According to the Prime Minister, the Government expects that over the weekend and the holidays Slovenia will show its solidarity towards the affected areas, when everyone will be able to help in their own way.