In 2016, the Slovak government started to integrate the Agenda 2030 into the national strategic context. The starting point of this work was done by the Institute for Forecasting of the Slovak Academy of Science, in cooperation with the line ministries and their analytical units. This work resulted in the study “The Baselines for National Priorities of Agenda 2030”.

This document served as a basis for a broad participative process coordinated by the 2030 Agenda Coordination Department in 2018, which resulted in the Proposal of 6 national priorities of the 2030 Agenda implementation (see above).

Reflecting upon new pandemic crisis and recent EC policies and strategies, the Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatisation (MIRRI SR) has redrafted its national sustainable development strategy until 2030.

Slovakia 2030 - the vision and national sustainable development strategy until 2030 - was approved by the Slovak government on 20 January 2021. Prepared in a participative process, the document is based on National priorities for 2030 Agenda implementation (2018) and reflects upon new developments both in national and European context - namely adoption of the European Green Deal, new Slovak government formed in April 2020 as well as COVID-19 pandemic situation. Slovakia 2030 integrates both sectoral and regional development priorities as it stands for a national regional development strategy, too. Slovakia 2030 builds on 4 core principles: a) sustainability (i.e. balance between available resources and their use), b) priority of quality of life to economic growth, c) effectiveness based on synergies, and d) integration of policies and policy tools. Its aims at harmonising sectoral and regional policies, and at providing a guidance in programming and implementation of the EU funds within the EU 2021-2027 programming period. Slovakia 2030 is structured into 3 integrated development programmes: 1. Protection and development of resources, 2. Sustainable use of resources, and 3. Development of communities. It also contains a set of 82 national indicators. It is expected to be reviewed by 2023 in a form of a national development strategy until 2050.

The Association of Self-governing Regions (SK8), the Association of Cities and Municipalities of Slovakia (ZMOS) as well as the Union of Cities of Slovakia (ÚMS) are represented in the Government Council of the Slovak Republic for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and contributed to  Vision and National Development Strategy of Slovakia until 2030 (The Methodology for preparation of regional/local social and economic development programmes based on smart sustainable principles was approved in January 2020 by Office of the DPMO for Investments, regional development and informatisation. It provides for integration of the national Agenda 2030 objectives to regional/local strategic planning documents.

The main institutionalized mechanism of the horizontal policy integration for the 2030 Agenda national implementation is represented by the Government Council for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, established in 2017.

The Council is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Informatisation, and co-chaired by the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs. The 2030 Agenda Coordination Department serves as a Council’s Secretariat.

The Council is a high-level advisory body of the government dealing with the issues of the 2030 Agenda national implementation, currently comprising 35 voting members, including Office of the Government, key line ministries, representatives of regional administration, academia, NGOs, government advisory bodies, employer and trade unions representatives, National Parliament, the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, and National Prosecutors Office. It is chaired by the DPM for Investments and Informatisation and co-chaired by the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs.

The Deputy Prime Minister established committee of officials called “Working group for Agenda 2030 and National Investment Plan”, which is directly subordinated to the Government Council for Agenda 2030. The Deputy Prime Minister´s Office initiated establishment of Expert Group on Monitoring and Indicators, which is coordinated by the Statistical Office of the SR.

In the period 2017-April 2020, the Council convened three times to discuss/approve major documents related to the 2030 Agenda national implementation:

Information available in Slovak here.

The 2030 Agenda Coordination Department at the DPMO for Investments and Informatisation has initiated involvement of analytical departments of key line ministries in the process of drafting the first national monitoring and evaluation report (due: June 2020).  

EU linkages

European Semester Country Report Slovakia 2019

European Semester Country Report Slovakia 2020

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52020SC0524&from=EN

According to the government decree 41/2021, adopting Slovakia 2030 – Vision and national SD strategy until 2030, the following tasks are planned: to reflect the Vision and national SD strategy until 2030 in the programming documents for EU 2021-27 programming period, to prepare an update Slovakia 2050 until 2023, and to incorporate Slovakia 2030 - Vision and national SD strategy until 2030 into sectoral and regional development strategies.

Slovakia has adopted a biannual monitoring and evaluation framework of the progress made in the implementation of the national priorities of the 2030 Agenda, with the first national M&E Report to be submitted to the government by 30 June 2020. In the absence of the approved national SD strategy, the report will be based on the progress made in 6 national priorities defined in 2018. The 2030 Agenda Coordination Departement contracted a group of independent experts, who in 2018 participated in definition of the national priorities, to analyse progress made in each of the national 2030 Agenda priorities in the timeframe from July 2018 to April 2020. Analytical units of the line ministries have been involved in this process, providing inputs from their area of expertise.  

The First National Monitoring Report on the progress achieved in the national priorities of the 2030 Agenda implementation was approved by the Slovak Government in September 2020.

In 2018, Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic issued its report on Performance Audit of Preparedness for Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals.

Audit report and key messages available in English.

Key recommendations:

• To develop the communication strategy tailored for each specific group: government officials, representatives of self-government bodies, academic and non-government organizations and private sector, and to focus the communication on Agenda 2030 also on individual citizens
• To coordinate its activities to involve Parliament and President of the Slovak Republic into the implementation of the Agenda 2030.
• To initiate closer communication with the Ministry of Finance of the SR and identify national sources of financial allocation for national targets of Agenda 2030.
• To initiate closer internal communication with the Central Coordination Body (respective department at the Deputy Prime Minister's Office) to specify allocations of EU funds for the programming period 2021 - 2027 and get these allocations into compliance with the national targets of Agenda 2030.
• To initiate closer communication with the Ministry of Finance of the SR to assure national financing connected to the national overall coordination after 2020 when the financing from EU funds will expire.
• Cooperate closely while elaborating the document Vision and Strategy Development of Slovakia by 2030. The cooperation should aim to identify relevant national targets and related measurable national indicators.
• To assure sustainability of the Agenda 2030 monitoring to envisage a possible need to increase the budget for the Statistical Office to comply with eventual increase of tasks related to data processing and necessary human resources increase.

Slovakia is preparing the second report on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. The second report will focus on the current status of the 17 SDGs.

Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic is a key institution responsible for SDGs related monitoring on global (UN), European (Eurostat) and national levels.  It has been coordinating an Expert Group on SDGs Monitoring and Indicators, which was developing a set of national indicators related to national sustainable development strategy (government approval pending).

Statistical Office prepared two publications:

The Slovak Republic and the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda

Visegrád Group Countries: Selected Indicators of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Other sources:

Sustainable Development Report 2019

Europe Sustainable Development Report 2019 – Slovak Republic

Europe Sustainable Development Report 2020 – Slovak Republic:

https://eu-dashboards.sdgindex.org/map

82 national indicators were defined within Slovakia 2020 – Vision and national sustainable development strategy until 2030.

With the support of the Government Envoy for civil society development (in Slovak), the DPMO has set up a participative way of preparing key documents for the 2030 Agenda national implementation with the aim to create the ownership of the national SD goals and strategies.

In 2018, the six national priorities for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda were defined in a broad stakeholder participation process involving civil society organisations, institutions and associations, think tanks, universities, academia, municipalities, regions, business associations and trade unions. Participative process was facilitated by an external organization with the expertise in this field.

In 2019, experts from various sectors / organisations participated in formulation of the Vision and National Development Strategy (government approval pending).

In September 2019, DPMO organized a National Convent, seeking wide support from all stakeholders for the proposed Vision and National Development Strategy.

The 2030 Agenda Coordination Departement of DPMO has established a successful cooperation with the Pontis Foundation, presenting a special award for contribution to SDGs within their Via Bona Slovakia Award.

Information available in Slovak here.

Slovakia is finalising a procurement of the new participatory process to define national priorities of sustainable development 2050. This activity will be based on the update of the national Agenda 2030 priorities, taking into account the latest developments, like the outputs of the Glasgow Climate Conference, Impacts of Coronavirus and Strategic Foresight 2050 of the European Commission

The City of Bratislava is registered for its first VLR presentation at HLPF 2021.