Minister Jevšek attends the informal meeting of the EU General Affairs Council in Prague: The primary objective of Cohesion Policy is to reduce development disparities between regions, which can only be achieved with long-term planning of structural reforms and investments

Prague, 2 September 2022 – Minister for Development and European Cohesion Policy dr Aleksander Jevšek attended the informal meeting of Ministers responsible for Cohesion Policy in the frame of the EU General Affairs Council meeting, which took place on 1 and 2 September 2022 in Prague under the auspice of the Czech Presidency. Slovenia’s Minister also met with Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira.   

At the informal meeting, Ministers responsible for Cohesion Policy discussed Cohesion Policy’s role as one of the most important EU policies in reducing development disparities between regions and responding to the challenging situations that Europa and the world are facing. The Ministers also discussed how Cohesion Policy could retain its primary investment role also in the future and, at the same time, respond to the unforeseen challenges that the European Union will continue to face.  

Minister dr Jevšek also underlined that Cohesion Policy has proven essential in responding to many crises and mitigating the consequences of such crises, especially in the most affected countries. The main objective of Cohesion Policy is and will remain to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion to reduce the development gap between regions and the lagging behind of the least developed regions. This can only be achieved with long-term planning of structural reforms and investments. The Minister said Slovenia believes that establishing synergies and complementarities can be achieved more efficintly with fewer different programmes and instruments, either through shared management or direct or indirect EC management.      

If the EU continues to meet such major crises and the consequences such crises bring for all EU citizens, additional funding will, without a doubt, be needed, including additional EU funds. In light of the fact that Cohesion Policy is implemented in shared management, Member States are the ones that can achieve the most success in allocating the funding to the areas and beneficiaries most in need of such support. According to Minister dr Jevšek, one of the options is to increase reserve funding in the next multiannual financial framework to facilitate a quick response to crises.      

Minister dr Jevšek also met with European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira for the first time. They addressed project implementation issues resulting from increasing prices, closing the drafting process of the programming documents for the programming period 2021-2027 and long-term development priorities of Slovenia and the European Union.  

Minister thanked Commissioner Ferreira for the excellent cooperation with the European Commission, namely Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy during the drafting of the Partnership Agreement and the Cohesion Policy Programme for the Period 2021-2027. Commissioner stressed the importance of finalising the programme, which will enable Member States and regions to submit project proposals and start implementing projects. Commissioner pointed out that in light of the crises the European Union has been facing recently, Cohesion Policy is now, more than ever, of great relevance. Commissioner and Minister exchanged their views on the issues and potential solutions for closing the 2014-2020 projects in light of the rising prices and the supply chain problems. Commissioner will visit Slovenia on 28 and 29 September 2022 for formal signing of the Partnership Agreement for the period 2021-2027 which identifies the planned investments to be supported by Cohesion Policy Funds, European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived in the total amount of EUR 3.266 billion.