Večer says EU aid package contains almost no new funds
Ljubljana, 11 August - The newspaper Večer comments on EU flood aid for Slovenia, saying that apart from EUR 400 million, which are yet to be successfully drawn, the rest of the aid package consists of funds which have already been available to the country.
Prime Minister Robert Golob has said that the flood damage will reach billion of euros, the paper notes, commenting that the new funds offered by the European Commission will cover only a small part of the damage.
"The majority of funds in the offer that Ursula von der Leyen brought to Slovenia are loans. Much caution will be needed, because they may soon turn out to be very expensive."
EUR 400 million have been made available from the Solidarity Fund, but Slovenia may not be successful in drawing the entire amount, Večer says.
The rest of the funds available are old, among them EUR 2.7 billion in loans from the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Most member states did not opt for these loans because they were less favourable than other sources before the ECB started raising interest rates.
It seems that due to lack of demand, the European Commission wants to get these funds into circulation in Slovenia, the paper says under the headline Funds or Loans.