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 aimed at providing temporary housing, repairing damage, and keeping people employed. Up to 14 January 2024, the government paid €557.8 million for flood relief and damage repair (i.e. temporary layoff scheme, repairs of roads, extraordinary social cash benefits, intervention costs for municipalities and Civil Protection forces, cleaning up watercourses, repairs of agricultural buildings, prepayment for damage in the economy, prepayment of housing renovation, etc.). The activities to repair the damage, estimated at a total value of €13 billion, continue. The Act on Reconstruction, Development and Provision of Financial Resources (ZORZFS), adopted in December 2023, provides new aid for the economy.

Content of measure

The Act on Reconstruction, Development and Provision of Financial Resources (ZORZFS) helps businesses affected by flooding and landslides with two additional measures. First, the act makes public guarantees for loans with a 30% subsidised interest rate available to private legal entities, self-employed, and farmers who need financing to relocate facilities to areas safe from flooding and landslides. The programme strengthens the flood resilience of companies in order to create new jobs and develop new or improved products or services. The guarantee is limited to 30% of net turnover in 2022 and must not exceed €10 million. A quota of €500 million was earmarked for these guarantees. The loan contract must be concluded by 31 December 2025 at the latest. Second, the act prioritises investment incentives for businesses that suffered direct damage due to flooding and landslides. Businesses whose damage exceeds €20 million may apply for co-financing if their investments surpass €12 million in manufacturing, €3 million in services and €2 million in research and development. The beneficiary must maintain employment level for three years after completion of the investment. The programme ends on 31 December 2024. Furthermore, the government adopted the programme for compensating the damage to the economy following the August floods.

Use of measure

The Government made available €230 million to compensate businesses affected by the August 2023 floods. In prepayments, the Ministry of Economy spent about €35 million. The remaining compensations will be paid in 2024. The total economic damage caused by the floods is estimated at €385 million: €170 million for machinery and equipment, €92 million for inventories and €123 million due to loss of revenue

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

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

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

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

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

The 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 of Slovenia – ZDS, Association of Employers in Craft and Small Business of Slovenia – ZDOPS) have blocked the negotiations since 20 July 2023, i.e. before the flood in August 2023. The emergency law was thus prepared without prior negotiations with the social partners in the Economic and Social Council. However, the organisations held informal talks with the Ministries of Economy, Labour and Finance on flood recovery measures

Views and reactions

There is no information on the involvement of social partners in negotiations about the law

Sources

• 22 December 2023: Act on Reconstruction, Development and Provision of Financial Resources (Zakon o obnovi, razvoju in zagotavljanju finančnih sredstev, ZORZFS (www.pisrs.si)
• 15 February 2024: Government, Programme for the repair of damage in the economy after the August floods adopte (www.gov.si)