After two years of coordination the Slovenian National Assembly has adopted amendments to the law on promoting balanced regional development, laying the groundwork for future functional regions. The revision aims to reduce development disparities between the western and eastern cohesion regions and to create a more transparent, efficient regional development policy.

However, the parliamentary group representing Slovenia’s two national minorities has expressed dissatisfaction, saying the interests of these communities were included only on a formal level.

The amendments respond to findings that development gaps between the more advanced western and less developed eastern regions have widened in recent years. To address this, the law introduces a development vulnerability index to establish a more objective and transparent basis for allocating development funds—reducing ad hoc decisions and strengthening strategic planning.

The revised legislation also mandates coordination between regions and relevant ministries, thereby limiting purely central-level decision-making. The role of regional development agencies will increase significantly, and under new EU funding guidelines, resources will prioritize larger strategic projects that require closer cooperation among regions, municipalities, and economic stakeholders.

During the parliamentary debate, Hungarian minority representative Ferenc Horváth spoke on behalf of the minority group. While affirming support for decentralization and balanced regional growth, he criticized the amendments for failing to meaningfully include minority interests. Under the “one member – one vote” principle, Horváth warned, the two national communities can easily be outvoted within development councils, making their participation largely symbolic.

Horváth added that if minority priorities continue to be ignored in practice, the group will press for direct consultations with the government and relevant ministries. He also highlighted that the amended law still fails to solve a key issue for national communities—the pre-financing of development projects. Without access to initial seed funding, he noted, minority organizations are often unable to take advantage of development opportunities.

Another unresolved matter is the Ribnica Fund. Although several million euros are nominally available for Slovenia’s national communities, no legal framework currently allows access to these resources, leaving them effectively frozen.

While the new amendments represent an important step toward more balanced regional development, the concerns raised by minority representatives underline that without genuine inclusion and practical access to funding, the reform’s benefits may not be shared equally by all.

Source: Nepujsag.net

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