Single country profile
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Slovenia|
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Basic information
| Year of approval of the SD strategy and updates |
Slovenia's Development Strategy was adopted by the Government in 2005 and includes all three dimensions of SD, therefore, it is also understood as the country’s NSDS. A revision of the Development Strategy is planned with the involvement of the National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD). The revision of the strategy started in 2008 with a ‘scenario-building exercise’. The process was moderated by an external international consultancy between April-June 2008. One of the main objectives was to identify gaps of the current strategy and reach a consensus about priority measures for the future. At the end of the scenario building process, the participants at different levels helped to prepare a set of three scenarios, which are illustrations to plausible futures and their stories provide an opportunity to assess the plans and strategies under any scenario. Participants formulated three distinct scenarios: Clueless, Green Oasis and Chameleon. As a tool to use the stories in the future a simple scheme of branching points is included together with a comprehensive scheme which places the three scenarios in relation to each other and attempts to illustrate their differences, commonalities and correlations. The set of the scenarios explore and test existing plans and strategies while at the same time also provide a unique “lens” through which information, events and development can be assessed and understood. A revised NSDS is planned for 2009 and shall be preceded by a comprehensive mid-term review, envisaged as a task performed in parallel – to and in coherence – with the compilation of the spring 2009 Development Report (IMAD) and the 2009 EU SDS national reporting. Decisions concerning the details and the timing of the procedures will be taken by the new government. |
| Type of SD strategy | NSDS covers all three dimensions of SD plus culture. |
| Lead ministry/institution in the SD strategy process |
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| Link to the SD strategy document |
'Slovenia's Development Strategy' (2005) The full list(s) of NSDS objectives as identified by a study commissioned by Eurostat can be downloaded here: |
| Further information about the SD strategy process |
Mechanisms of Vertical Integration
National — sub-national linkages
In the preparation of the NSDS, the National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD) was involved. Two representatives of the sub-national levels participate in the NCSD. The NCSD organised five topic-specific discussions, including one with regional and local representatives.
As for the revision of the NSDS, the NCSD is the umbrella body for the ‘scenario-building exercise’. A steering committee guides the process and also includes representatives of the sub-national levels.
Regarding implementation, the Structural Funds/Cohesion Funds were the main focus of Slovenia. In this context, SD was addressed in regional development programmes. There is an ad-hoc involvement of regional bodies in this process, mainly in cohesion fund programming.
Generally, there is a link between the objectives of the NSDS and the regional programmes. On the one hand, this is fostered by a coordination mechanism in the Office for Regional Development in the Government that coordinates multi-level governance issues with the NCSD and the Regional Development Councils. On the other hand, a decree that is mandatory for all political levels outlines that in development policy, the principles of the NSDS need to be taken into account (Art. 3). Another article defines the context of a development plan and refers to SEA and policy coherence in establishment of the plan.
EU linkages
The renewed EU Strategy for Sustainable Development (EU SDS) that was adopted in June 2006 foresees that Member States bi-annually report about how they address the priorities of the EU SDS. Slovenia has published its first national report on implementing the EU SDS in summer 2007.
The Statistical Office of the republic of Slovenia in cooperation with EUROSTAT, some Member States and the National Council for Sustainable Development currently undertake a 2-year project aimed at compiling and promoting tailored-made sustainable development indicators for Slovenia. The sustainable development indicators web-page will be launched and a printed brochure made available by March 2010.
Mechanisms of Horizontal Integration
Inter-ministerial coordination was established during the preparation of the NSDS. Moreover, the National Council for SD (NCSD) fosters cross-sectoral coordination. According to the Government decision of 14 June 2007, the NCSD is chaired by the Minister of the Government Office for Growth and co-chaired by the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning and by the Minister of Local Government and Regional Policy. It is composed of 34 members, comprising 9 representatives of Government offices and 25 representatives of civil society.
Evaluation and Review
The implementation of the NSDS is monitored in the form of a Development Report that is annually prepared by the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development and adopted by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia as a guideline for formulation of national economic and development policy. The Development Report 2008 contains findings regarding the implementation of strategic guidelines of the initial NSDS period. The report is divided into two parts: Part I presents an overview of the NSDS implementation for the five main objectives; part II documents the progress in detail by means of indicators of Slovenia's development.
Indicators and Monitoring
The findings in the Development Report 2008 are mainly based on the results obtained through the set of indicators that was designed to monitor development. The set of indicators largely corresponds to the set of 71 indicators applied in 2007, although it has been extended in some areas. The analysis in the Development Report 2008 is based on the official statistical data of domestic and foreign institutions that were available by the end of January 2008. In the analyses, a comparison of Slovenia with other EU Member States is made.
The full list(s) of indicators as identified by a study commissioned by Eurostat can be downloaded here:
Participation
During the preparation of the NSDS, several workshops with the participation of various stakeholder groups discussed the drafts. The discussions, workshops and close inter-ministerial co-ordination resulted in the Draft Strategy that the Government adopted as the proposal for public debate. Public debate started with a consultation meeting held by the Prime Minister. The participants were representatives of business, science, culture and other social stakeholders. Moreover, the NCSD organised five topic-specific discussions with individual groups of societal stakeholders (employers, employees, non-governmental organisations, social activities, regional and local interests).
According to the Government decision of 14 June 2007, the Council for SD is chaired by the Minister of the Government Office for Growth and co-chaired by the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning and by the Minister of Local Government and Regional Policy. It is composed of 34 members, comprising 9 representatives of government offices and 25 representatives of civil society (including representative of the economy, trade unions, municipalities, regional development agencies, the Roma community, Italian and Hungarian ethnic minorities, Slovene economic associations in Austria and Italy, and NGOs in the fields of environmental, social, economic development and equal opportunities).
In preparation to review certain important strategic documents and policies in Slovenia (i.e. the Lisbon Implementation Strategy and the Slovenian Development Strategy, the latter is officially understood as NSDS), a participatory process was designed. The process started in May 2008 with a ‘scenario-building workshop’ involving about 30 participants to develop three scenarios for the future development of Slovenia with special focus on the impacts of climate change. This two-day workshop was organised by the Government Office for Growth and was attended by representatives of various governmental institutions, scientists, business representatives, unions, NGOs and the media. The current results are three scenarios regarding the future development of Slovenia and a definition of key actors, events and elements for each scenario. The experiences with the participatory process will be used for the review of the Slovenian Development Strategy in 2009.
For
a detailed documentation of all advisory and participatory councils (for SD and/or the environment) in this country,
please go to the EEAC website at http://www.eeac-net.org/bodies/slovenia/sl_frame.htm and click on one of the listed institutions.
Sub-national activities
- With the new Environmental Protection Act of 2004, the municipalities need to prepare local programmes for environmental protection. In 2007, the Ministry for Environment and Spatial Planning issued recommendations to the local municipalities for preparation of their environmental protection programmes. The document was designed in the participatory process.
- Currently, five programmes are prepared (Ljubljana, Maribor, Murska Sobota, Ptuj, Istria Regional programme that covers the municipalities of Koper, Izola and Piran). There are some local environmental programmes under preparation (Velenje, Kranj, Nova Gorica).
- As far as Local Agenda 21 initiatives are concerned, we are not aware of any of the local communities which would be having/preparing one.
- In the Recommendations to the local municipalities in preparing local programmes
for environmental protection the use of indicators at three levels are recommended:
- The environmental indicators
- The indicators for the operational goals
- The indicators for monitoring the implementation of the measures.
This Country Profile has been last updated on: Friday, 05 December 2008
For the sources used in the country profiles, please click here.
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