VERTICAL INTEGRATION

Tuesday, 18 August 2020
National — sub-national linkages
The Slovenian Development Strategy 2030, with its primary objective of “Slovenia, a country with a high quality of life for all” and its twelve development goals is the country’s core development framework, and is supported by sectoral strategies, regional and municipal strategies and programmes and operational measures.
Regarding implementation, the Structural Funds/Cohesion Funds were already in the past decade the main focus of Slovenia. In this context, SD was addressed in regional development programmes. Regional bodies are involved in this process, mainly in cohesion fund programming.
In the context of the implementation of the SDS 2030, it will also be necessary to strengthen multi-level management mechanisms in order to ensure more harmonised regional development, where spatial planning is one of the most important levers for achieving development synergies.
The link between the objectives of the SDS 2030 and the regional programmes is fostered by a coordination mechanism in the Regional Development Directorate within the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology that coordinates multi-level governance issues with national bodies and the Regional Development Councils. In the field of regional development, with the vision of realizing regionalism, it, in the given conditions, realises the set strategic objectives and forms regional policy of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia; this also includes the promotion of sustainable development in its widest sense which activates the potentials in the Slovenian regions by not reducing the sources and opportunities for the development of future generations, and promotion of regional development of border areas and strengthening cross-border cooperation in the framework of the European territorial cooperation (ETC) programmes and the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). The Ministry of Economic Development and Technology is responsible for the system and legislation in the field of harmonious regional development, preparation of the national development programme and the coordination of the 12 regional development programmes (for 12 statistical regions, NUTS-3 level).
According to the OECD Environmental Performance Review for Slovenia, the considerable autonomy enjoyed by municipalities, and the absence of regional administrative level, have resulted in an important environmental governance gap between national and local levels. Therefore one of the Review’s key recommendations was to strengthen the oversight by the responsible Ministry of local spatial planning, and provide incentives for municipalities to develop joint regional spatial plans.
EU linkages
The bases for the drafting of the Slovenian Development Strategy 2030 were the overviews of global changes, trends and forecasts published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the European Commission, the World Bank and other relevant institutions, and an analysis of Slovenia’s development baselines.
Slovenia is active in the process of implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the EU level.
Slovenia is involved, along with other countries, in three macro-regional strategies that are all oriented towards sustainable development: EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR), and EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSAR).