Slovakia’s recovery and resilience plan

RRF FUNDED PROJECTS IN SLOVAKIA

WHAT’S IN THE PLAN?

The reforms and investments in Slovakia’s plan are helping it become more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities offered by the green and digital transitions. Following Council approval of Slovakia’s plan on 13 July 2021, Slovakia’s recovery and resilience plan was updated on 14 July 2023 to also introduce reforms and investments that address REPowerEU objectives.

^{*The plan is entirely financed by RRF grants.
** This value includes the transfer from the Brexit adjustment reserve requested by Slovakia and Slovakia’s REPowerEU grant.}

• 64 investment streams and 70 reforms
• 46% of the plan will support climate objectives 
• 21% of the plan will foster the digital transition.  

The transformative impact of the Slovak plan is the result of a strong combination of reforms and investments which address the country’s specific challenges. The reforms address in particular the bottlenecks to a lasting and sustainable growth. The investments are targeted to accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable, low-carbon and resilient economy, to facilitate the digital transformation of businesses and the society and to reinforce social resilience by improving quality of education and healthcare systems.  

All measures have to be implemented within a tight time frame, as the Regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility requires all milestones and targets within the national plans to be completed by August 2026.

Slovakia’s plan now includes six  new reforms, four new investments with four existing investments receiving additional funding to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, in line with the REPowerEU Plan's objectives.

To finance this increased ambition, Slovakia has asked for a share of its Brexit Adjustment Reserve to be transferred to the plan, amounting to 36.7 million. These funds would be added to Slovakia's REPowerEU grant of €366.4 million.

Key measures for REPowerEU

The objective of the REPowerEU component of the Slovak recovery and resilience plan is to reduce the overall dependence on fossil fuels imports from Russia, increase energy security and accelerate the transition to renewables.

In particular, investments in energy infrastructure, together with measures on permitting processes, energy efficiency of buildings, zero-emission transport and the promotion of green skills, are expected to contribute to reducing the reliance on fossil fuels and integrating renewables into the Slovak energy mix faster and more widely.

Of the 14 measures in the Slovak REPowerEU chapter, eight have a cross-border dimension.

In the area of climate and environmental policies, Slovakia’s challenges include the transition towards a greener energy mix, more sustainable mobility, better energy and environmental performance of buildings, increased biodiversity protection, adaptation to climate change and development of the circular economy.

Key measures for the green transition

• The plan supports the green transition through an investment of €446,5 million for a large-scale renovation to make at least 25 164  family houses more energy efficient.
• Investment of around €368 million into the decarbonisation of industry will spur energy efficiency improvements and deployment of innovative technologies.
• €759.3 million will be invested into sustainable transport to support the roll-out of more than 3000 charging stations for alternative fuels, the modernisation of railways and 162 km of new cycling infrastructure.
• This investment will be further enhanced by a comprehensive reform creating integrated public transport systems in six regions. 
• Measures for climate change adaptation will combine investments of nearly €150 million with reforms in the area of nature protection, water management and landscape planning to preserve biodiversity. The investment will result in 90 km renatured watercourses and the promotion of a more sustainable local economy.

The modified plan, including the REPowerEU chapter, has further strengthened the focus on the plan on the green transition, devoting dedicating 46% of the available funds to measures that support climate objectives (up from 43% in the original plan).

Slovakia´s performance in the digital ranking of EU Member States remains weak. Slovakia faces challenges related to a low level of digitalisation of public administration and public services, slow uptake of digital technologies, insufficient digital skills, and gaps in broadband coverage and the deployment of 5G.

Key measures for the digital transition

• The plan supports the digital transition with reforms and investments supporting digitalisation of the public administration, including areas like education, healthcare and justice.
• With an investment of €177.5 million, the plan aims at providing better services for citizens and businesses by introducing user-friendly e-government solutions.
• An investment of around €85 million will help businesses with their digitalisation through a network of digital innovation hubs to assist them in digitalising business processes and provide trainings in digital skills.
• Investments will support the development of a new Slovak supercomputer and participation in other cross-border EU projects.
• Quality and digitalisation of schools will be supported through €187 million to finance digital equipment, including for children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, to enhance digital skills and create a new learning ecosystem, which will be further strengthened by an essential curriculum reform.

Key socio-economic challenges for the Slovak economy include poor education outcomes and skills of pupils - in particular from a socially disadvantaged background – and low enrolment rate of children in pre-school facilities. Slovakia’s health outcomes are weak and life expectancy is among the lowest in the EU. Slovakia´s ability to increase competitiveness and productivity requires improving innovation and promoting sectoral diversification, but the low quality of public research and limited cooperation with businesses constrain the transfer of knowledge and skills. Public administration and the business environment suffer from administrative complexity and systemic inefficiencies. These challenges weigh on potential growth and employment.

Key measures in reinforcing economic and social resilience

• The plan reinforces economic and social resilience with measures fostering inclusive education systems at all levels.
• It will improve the access to and the quality of the inpatient and outpatient health care and enhance long-term care services.
• The modernisation of the hospital network should help increase the quality and cost-effectiveness of medical services, while ensuring fair geographical distribution and accessibility.
• This will be combined with investments aimed at improving the accessibility of primary care services in underserved regions. Significant infrastructure investments will be in particular targeted at modernisation of hospital buildings (€930 million)  and increasing capacities of pre-school facilities (€141 million). 
• Enhancing social and health care capacities will combine a reform and investments of around €246.5 million for those in need through community- based solutions.
• To support innovation potential, the plan intends to reform RDI governance and invests around € 575.2 million into support schemes to mobilise excellent researchers and projects, public-private research cooperation, injecting new capital and microloans to companies and providing innovation vouchers to SMEs.
• The plan includes a reform to improve the business environment by accelerating public procurement and reforming the insolvency framework to reduce the time and cost for running a business.
• Reorganisation of the justice system combines a reform to improve efficiency and independence and investments of €232.7 million into the infrastructure of courts and digitalisation.

Slovakia’s plan is consistent with the challenges and priorities identified in the European Semester, the annual cycle of coordination and monitoring of each EU country’s economic policies. For a detailed explanation of the European Semester see the following link: The European Semester explained | European Commission (europa.eu)

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