Over €190 million in EU and national funding available for the SAŠA coal region

28. 11. 2025

Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development

''If you take a walk through Velenje or Šoštanj, you can see that the restructuring process did not start with the Just Transition Fund. The two municipalities have been implementing this process very successfully for several years now. Actually, a total of over €190 million is currently allocated to the SAŠA coal region,'' said State Secretary Srečko Đurov in his statement to the media on the sidelines of today's visit to Velenje.

Moški in ženske sedijo za dolgo mizo. Na mizi tablice z imeni. Pred njimi sokovi in piškoti. Na steni velik zaslon s prestavitvijo. — Representatives of the European Commission and the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development at a meeting in Velenje | Author Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development

1 / 3

The European Commission delegation, led by Andreas von Busch, Head of Unit Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovenia at Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, and the representatives of the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development learned more about key projects driving a just transition in the region and paid a site visit to the project promoting the overhaul of the district heating system. Mr von Busch stressed that the coal region was recognised as a good practice in implementing a just transition in the European Union.

The Just Transition Fund (JTF) facilitates the region's exit from coal and its transition to green technologies, low-carbon production, and energy efficiency. The Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development has already allocated 74% of the funding made available under the Just Transition Fund through funding decisions.

JTF funding has been earmarked for the development of the Business Zone Pesje East which received €2 million in co-financing, the signing of two contracts providing €42 million in co-financing for business incubators Former Power Plant and TecHub, a funding decision worth €15 million for a new lab unit of the Chemical Institute in TecHub, the launch of a call for proposals for co-financing R&D and demonstration-pilot projects in the Zasavska and SAŠA coal regions making €10 million available for the SAŠA coal region and a call for proposals for economic restructuring of the Zasavska and SAŠA coal regions making €42 million available for the SAŠA coal region.

State Secretary Đurov recalled that the second amendment to Slovenia's EU Cohesion Policy Programme 2021-2027, approved by the government and the Monitoring Committee of the Programme the day before, foresaw measures that were extremely important for the SAŠA coal region. Among these are, for example, €5 million earmarked for the purchase and transfer of the flats of the Velenje Coal Mine to the Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia to provide public rental housing for different target groups. He also noted that draft act on the development restructuring of the SAŠA coal region was expected to be discussed at the government by mid-December.