Slovenia is following the EU in reforming its cohesion policy, as witnessed by the National Development Strategy that follows the goals of the Lisbon Strategy to the fullest possible extent, Local Self-Government and Regional Policy Minister Ivan Zagar has said.
Slovenia is also preparing efficient national projects in the 2007-2013 period, Zagar added on Tuesday in Brussels on the sidelines of an informal meeting of EU regional policy ministers. The ministers moreover stressed the need for quick and efficient transfer of good practices, Zagar revealed, explaining that examples of such practices abound in Slovenia. He also pointed out that Slovenia would get substantially more money from EU funds in the coming financial perspectives than it did in the past. While it got EUR 450m in the first two years of its EU membership, it will get EUR 3.7bn from EU structural and cohesion funds in the 2007-2013 period. EU ministers also stressed the importance of transferring the goals of the strategy into practice on regional levels.