Slovenia reduces the amount of loans from the recovery and resilience plan

Ljubljana – The government on Thursday reduced the recovery and resilience plan’s grants from just over one billion euros to 613 million euros. As explained by Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič after the government session, most of the investments that were planned to be financed through loans will be carried out with the help of other financial sources. Slovenia will send the proposal for formal consideration to Brussels.

“It is important that the financial volume for non-repayable funds remains unchanged at 1.61 billion euros,” said Boštjančič. Only the repayable funds are being reduced. The government proposes that the investments planned for financing through loans be carried out with the help of other financial sources or that their content be largely transferred to investments intended for non-repayable financing.

The government proposes to the European Commission, among other things, to exclude part of the project for upgrading the Ljubljana railway station from the plan. This represents a reduction of loans from the mechanism by 205.7 million euros. As explained by the Ministry of Finance, this part of the project is intended to be implemented with the help of non-repayable cohesion funds for the period 2021-2027.

This is a proposal for the third amendment to the recovery and resilience plan, according to which Slovenia currently has 1.61 billion euros in non-repayable funds and 1.07 billion euros in loans available until the end of 2026, with this part expected to be reduced to 613 million euros in the new version. The Recovery and Resilience Office of the Republic of Slovenia will now forward the proposal for amendment for formal consideration in Brussels. The government expects the final approval of the proposal for the amendment of the plan from the EU Council by the summer. (April 17)