Prime Minister Janša in the Savinjska Region

Since 1995, the natural population growth in the Savinjska region has been very similar to that in the whole of Slovenia. Following positive growth from 2005 to 2016, it has been negative in the last four years. The largest employment centre is Celje, followed by Velenje. 19,000 people from other municipalities in Slovenia come to work in Celje. Alongside Celje, Nazarje and Zreče are the municipalities featuring a distinctively high share of active working population. In June 2021, almost 33,000 people in the Savinjska region were employed in manufacturing. This is 6% more than a year ago. The Savinjska region also has 1,300 people employed in the mining industry. In 2020, the region recorded approximately 1.2 million tourist overnight stays, ranking third by region across Slovenia. Domestic tourists accounted for 77% of all overnight stays. The region has about 10,000 agricultural holdings cultivating almost 64,000 hectares of agricultural land. It has the third largest area of agricultural land by region and the second largest number of agricultural holdings. The average monthly net salary of those employed in the Savinjska region amounted to EUR 1,105 in 2020, which was approximately EUR 104 less than the Slovenian average.

The members of the Government first met for a working consultation in Podčetrtek, where the Mayor of the Podčetrtek Municipality, Peter Misja, gave an opening speech. The mayor commended a number of projects that are taking place in the municipality at the moment and pointed out that he was extremely pleased to welcome the Government on today’s visit to the municipality, the first since 2007. At the consultation, ministers spoke mainly about projects in the region in the fields of defence, economy, education, justice, culture, internal affairs, environment and spatial planning. The importance of spa tourism and projects implemented in the region within the framework of cohesion funds were given special focus.