Background information

Heavy rains between 4 and 6 August 2023 caused devastating floods that claimed several lives, destroyed homes, and swept away roads and infrastructure. Floods and landslides made many sites unreachable, and settlements cut off from access to water, gas and electricity. Half of Slovenian municipalities (or 17,203 square kilometres) were severely hit, particularly the Gorenjska, Štajerska, and Koroška regions. The government's swift response was targeted at providing temporary housing, repairing damage, and keeping people employed. The Amended Natural Disaster Recovery Act (ZOPNN-F, issued on 10 August 2023) and the Act Determining Intervention Measures for Recovery from the Floods and Landslides of August 2023 (ZIUOPZP from 1 September 2023) provided several instruments for agriculture, forestry, and aquaculture.

Content of measure

Besides supporting self-employed farmers and job-related support, the Government adopted several other measures to aid agriculture, forestry, and aquaculture:

• Compensation of 50% of the estimated damage under the flood recovery programme;
• Tax relief for farmers due to damage caused to their land in the form of a reduction in cadastral income;
• Co-financing of insurance premiums for the insurance of agricultural production and those agricultural products whose production is affected to the extent of 80% or more;
• De minimis aid for 100% destroyed agricultural crops and for all means of production (permanent crops and breeding livestock) destroyed or otherwise totally lost;
• One-off solidarity aid of €668.21 in the event of damage to property;
• Exemption from concession fees in 2023 and the first instalment in 2024 for inland fisheries management providers;
• Exemption from the fee for the maintenance of forest roads during their closure, reduction of the cadastral income from these lands;
• At the taxable person's request, a reduction in the tax base for cadastral income from forest land restored or afforested by the taxable person.

Use of measure

Until 14 January 2024, the Government provided emergency assistance of €3,694,983 to repair agricultural buildings affected by floods and landslides

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Self-employed	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	European Funds National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

Employers’ organisations, members of the Economic and Social Council (Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia – GZS, Slovenian Chamber of Commerce – TZS, Chamber of Craft and Small Business of Slovenia – OZS, Association of Employers Slovenia – ZDS, Association of Employers in Craft and Small Business of Slovenia – ZDOPS) have blocked negotiations since 20 July 2023. The emergency law was thus prepared without prior negotiation with the social partners

Views and reactions

No information available.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 20 July 2023: Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia – GZS, Slovenian Chamber of Commerce – TZS, Chamber of Craft and Small Business of Slovenia – OZS, Association of Employers Slovenia – ZDS, Association of Employers in Craft and Small Business of Slovenia – ZDOPS, Letter to the Prime Minister Robert Golob and the president of the ESS Jakob Počivalše (www.ess.si)
• 10 August 2023: Natural Disaster Recovery Act (Zakon o odpravi posledic naravnih nesreč, ZOPNN-F (www.pisrs.si)
• 01 September 2023: Act Determining Intervention Measures for Recovery from the Floods and Landslides of August 2023 (Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za odpravo posledic poplav in zemeljskih plazov iz avgusta 2023, ZIUOPZP (www.pisrs.si)