Governor Wenzel explores future cooperation opportunities in Slovenia

Paris – The Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), Rolf Wenzel, and Vice-Governor Tomáš Boček, wrapped up their visit to Slovenia where they visited projects financed through CEB loans and met with high-level government and municipal officials to take stock of the current and explore opportunities for future cooperation.

Governor Wenzel and Vice-Governor Boček held discussions with Minister of Finance Andrej Šircelj, Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning, Andrej Vizjak, Deputy Mayor of Ljubljana Aleš čerin, and Director of the Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia (HFRS), Črtomir Remec.

Governor Wenzel and Minister Šircelj talked about current and future funding needs in the country, including social and affordable housing, healthcare, housing for the elderly and education.

“We expect that our successful cooperation with Slovenian authorities and other stakeholders in the housing sector will continue, especially in the context of the country’s significant shortage of social and affordable housing,” Governor Wenzel said. “We also expect to expand our cooperation to other fields, such as healthcare and homes for the elderly. We are looking forward to partnering with Slovenian municipalities that have well-developed investment plans, which are aligned with CEB’s sectors of action and will build on the Bank’s experience and know-how gained from long-standing cooperation with major cities and regions across Europe.”

Governor Wenzel and Vice-Governor Boček indicated that the CEB financing could make synergies with the priorities set out in Slovenia’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which focuses on green transition, digital transformation, smart and sustainable growth, healthcare, social security and housing.

“The Bank’s flexible lending instruments are available to Slovenia and the CEB is open to customise its products in line with Slovenian government’s needs in the fields of social and affordable housing, including for the elderly, the environment, healthcare, and education,” Vice-Governor Boček said.

During the visit, the CEB delegation also met with representatives of SID Banka to discuss a new €50 million loan intended for financing municipal investments in infrastructure, energy efficiency and the environment. This loan is expected to be approved by the end of the year.

Finally, Governor Wenzel attended the opening ceremony  of the Novo Brdo housing complex in Ljubljana, which is partially financed through a CEB loan worth worth €50 million and approved in 2018 to the HFRS.

The current CEB loan to the HFRS also co-finances the construction of 210 housing units of the Pod Pekrsko Gorco urban development project in Maribor, as well as 110 student housing units for the University of Ljubljana in the Gerbičeva street, which was inaugurated earlier this year.  A second loan to the HFRS, worth €70 million, is under preparation.

Slovenia
Slovenia became a CEB member country in 1994. In the past 15 years the CEB supported inclusive growth in Slovenia with €170 million in investments across different sectors, such as social and affordable housing, environment, education, and municipal infrastructure.