President Markkula: Slovenia's local government should be given greater say in spending of EU funds

The President of the European Committee of the Regions, Markku Markkula, has applauded Slovenia for having already committed all its EU regional funds until 2020. During the three day visit, he also encouraged the Slovenian government to give municipalities a greater say in how the funds should be spent.

President Markkula was in Slovenia at the invitation of Dr Ivan Žagar, President of the Associations of Slovenian Municipalities and the head of the Slovenian delegation in the Committee of the Regions. During the visit he met with Mayors from across Slovenia who shared concerns about the lack of self-governance. They argued that more needed to be done to reduce regional disparity in Slovenia and felt that the economic crisis had given rise to renewed moves towards centralisation on decision-making of EU funds.

Dr Ivan Žagar said: "Slovenia is at local and regional level facing three problems: the lack of real autonomy, including fiscal autonomy, the absence of second level of local self-government (regions) and the lack of access to EU funds in the new financial perspective. All these is resulting in increasing disparities in development and living conditions in Slovenia ".

President Markkula and Dr Žagar discussed the issue of self-governance during a number of meetings including with the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor i; Slovenia's Minister for Development, Strategic Projects and Cohesion Policy, Alenka Smerkolj; President of the Slovenian National Council, Mitja Bervar; and the country's Deputy Prime Minister, Boris Koprivnikar.

With Slovenia benefiting from €3.3bn from EU cohesion funds and €837.8m earmarked for rural development President Markkula commented, “Local government leaders have shared objectives: to spur sustainable growth and effectively use resources to deliver the best services we can for our communities. Devolving governance and giving greater fiscal autonomy to towns and municipalities can help which is why I encourage Slovenia to continue this debate. Improving coordination and partnership between all levels of governments in deciding how to spend EU funds can make them even more effective and reach those communities most in need"