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 24 July 2024, the government paid €805 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 €3 billion, continue in 2025. The Act on Reconstruction, Development and Provision of Financial Resources (ZORZFS), adopted in December 2023, stipulates some additional measures for agriculture.

Content of measure

The Act on Reconstruction, Development and Provision of Financial Resources (ZORZFS) envisages some post-flood reconstruction in agriculture, such as:

1. The reconstruction of damaged forest roads;
2. The construction of containment ponds for irrigation;
3. The construction of replacement agricultural buildings and farms rendered uninhabitable or unsuitable due to floods and landslides can be built on agricultural land without a prior change of use;
4. The reconstruction and construction of water infrastructure on agricultural land;
5. The priority consideration of applications submitted to the Eco Fund by households or legal entities affected by floods and landslides;
6. Public loan guarantees with a subsidy (to cover the interest on the loan) for the acquisition of land, buildings, machinery and equipment and other tangible fixed assets, including the necessary working capital;
7. Guarantee for advances from the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020.

Furthermore, the Government adopted the compensation programme for the damage to agriculture following the August 2023 floods. A total of €4 million is available for compensation, €3.8 million for flood damage and €160,000 for landslide damage.

Use of measure

Between December 2023 and July 2024, the state disbursed nearly €4.8 million to farmers for mitigating damage to agricultural properties. Additionally, approximately €17 million was allocated for the reconstruction of damaged forest roads. The state also provided just over €9,000 in one-time solidarity aid and almost €67000 for damage compensation in aquaculture and fishing

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	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

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

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

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

Views and reactions

No information available.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

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)
• 16 February 2024: Government, Programme adopted to repair the damage caused by floods to primary agricultural productio (www.gov.si)
• 02 August 2024: Government, 12 months after the floods in figure (www.gov.si)