News

At its regular session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted a draft act on a lower rate of value added tax on certain types of energy products. By temporarily reducing the VAT rate from 22% to 9.5%, the Government is addressing the impact of energy price increases during the peak energy consumption period, i.e. the heating season. The Government also took note of the partial report on the fire intervention in the Goriška Karst region and instructed the Ministry of Defence to prepare, by the end of August, a legal solution to enable the payment of a special award to volunteers participating in the system of protection, rescue and assistance in the event of large-scale disaster interventions. The Government will also launch a procedure to assess the damage caused by the Karst fire and the possibility of acquiring financial assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund.

On Sunday 24 July 2022, Prime Minister Robert Golob visited the area affected by the fire in the Karst region for the third time. He was briefed on the current situation and met the mayors of the affected municipalities.

At the 9th regular session, the Government issued its Decree Determining the Prices of Natural Gas and adopted a further decision regarding risk preparedness in the event of disruptions in the supply of power and natural gas, taking note of the information concerning the problem of the supply of drinking water to the population of Slovenian Istria. It also discussed the general baselines for the preparation of budget documents for the following two years. These will allow the line ministries to draft the financial plans that will form the basis for future coordination and the Government’s priorities in the next two years.

Prime Minister Robert Golob visited a fire site in the Goriška Karst region and the Regional Civil Protection Headquarters to check on the situation faced by local residents, firefighters, civil protection service members and others battling the large-scale fire.

To strengthen cooperation and provide comprehensive solutions to deal with inflation and ensure Slovenia's energy security, Prime Minister Robert Golob invited the presidents and leaders of the parliamentary groups, economists and representatives of energy companies to a special meeting.

Prime Minister dr Robert Golob visited the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia and met with the President of the Constitutional Court, Prof dr Matej Accetto.

Prime Minister Robert Golob met today with the President of the Republic of Hungary, Katalin Novak, who is on an official visit to Slovenia. The talks focused on deepening relations between the two countries, the global challenges of energy and food security, Ukraine's European perspective, and EU enlargement to the Western Balkans.

On Thursday, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia took note of the 3rd Annual Rule of Law Report of the European Commission and adopted the first measures to mitigate the impact of electricity costs.

On Thursday, the National Assembly ratified the NATO accession protocols for Sweden and Finland. Before the vote, MPs were addressed by Prime Minister Robert Golob, who recalled the historic nature of the moment and the right of nations to decide on their own security and defence.

Prime Minister Robert Golob met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin. One of the key topics addressed in their talks was the energy crisis related to the war in Ukraine and the resulting need to ensure energy security.

Prime Minister Robert Golob and his team of ministers gathered in the national assembly to listen to President Volodymyr Zelensky's address as a sign of their support for and solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

At today’s session of the Government Committee for State Organisation and Public Affairs, the Government became acquainted with the joint report on volunteering in the Republic of Slovenia for 2020. The Government also adopted a report on the implementation of the Strategy for the Development of Non-Governmental Organisations and Volunteering until 2023 for the period from 2018 to the end of 2020. The Government included in the current Plan of Development Programmes of the Republic of Slovenia 2022-2025 the purchase of business premises for the needs of the judicial authorities in Novo Mesto in the total amount of EUR 855,545.

Vojko Volk, State Secretary for International Affairs at the Office of the Prime Minister, attended, together with President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani-Sadriuhe, a round table on the future of the Western Balkans, held under the auspices of the Centre for European Future and the Bled Strategic Forum.

At today's session, the government decided to spend over EUR 22 million to support farmers until the autumn sowing, and to purchase this year's entire wheat harvest. It also adopted a draft amendment to the Radiotelevizija Slovenija Act and guidance regarding the preparation of budget documents.

After the three-day meeting of the NATO heads of state and government, the Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob stressed that the plans to increase defence expenditure were not due to political pressure, but to the global situation, which has radically deteriorated since the previous summit of the alliance.

Today, Prime Minister Robert Golob was a guest in a live broadcast of BBC World News. He spoke about the agreements made at the NATO Summit, the enlargement of the alliance, the (in)stability of the Western Balkans, the European idea, and the challenges related to and cooperation with China.

Based on today's technical adjustment, Slovenia will receive approximately EUR 1.5 billion for the measures envisaged in the Recovery and Resilience Plan. This is EUR 286 million less non-repayable financial support than predicted by the previous Government, which is a new fact that Robert Golob's Government will need to address. The shortfall in non-repayable financial support will have to be promptly dealt with by changing the financial resources envisaged in the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Prime Minister Robert Golob is attending the NATO Summit in Madrid, where the NATO Heads of State and Government will discuss the most pressing security issues with the key partners and approve a new strategic concept of the Alliance for the next decade and beyond with the aim of ensuring that NATO continues to implement its most important mission and responsibility – to ensure the collective defence of the Alliance's members and the security of one billion people.

With today’s agreement by environment ministers on the Fit for 55 legislative package, Slovenia will become a beneficiary of the Modernisation Fund, an EU instrument to support green recovery in Europe. Negotiations with the European Parliament will follow, led by the incoming Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU.

At today’s correspondence session, the Government adopted initiatives to conclude the Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of Kingdom of Sweden and Republic of Finland and sent them for approval to the Foreign Policy Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia.