At the beginning of the visit, Dubravka Filipovski, Jasmina Karanac and Vesna Ivkovic met with Predrag Bakovic, Head of the Slovenian National Assembly’s PFG with Serbia. In an open conversation, the officials exchanged views and expressed satisfaction with the excellent cooperation between the two countries, also discussing environmental issues with a special focus on wastewater treatment plants.
Afterwards, the Green Parliamentary Group had a meeting in Ljubljana City Administration with the Head of the Department for Environmental Protection Svetlana Cermelj who briefed the guests on what the City of Ljubljana is doing to protect water, air and land, discussing water sources, water pollution and wastewater treatment. It is also interesting to note that forest cover 46% of the territory of the City of Ljubljana.
The Green Parliamentary Group next met was with MEP Ferenc Bogovic who presented his ideas in advocacy of "smart villages" and "Fit for 55", also discussing energy and how things will develop in the coming years.
The members of the Green Parliamentary Group also visited the Regional Waste Management Centre (RWMC) in Ljubljana, a waste sorting plant in service of 57 municipalities and cities and about 900,000 inhabitants of Slovenia. Over 300 trucks bring mixed waste to the plant on a daily basis, where the waste is sorted, selected and finally separated by energy value. Part of the waste is then used as fuel, small part is disposed of, while biological waste is turned into compost and eventually sold as a soil amendment.
On the second day of their visit to Slovenia, the coordinators of the Green Parliamentary Group met with the Committee on Infrastructure, Environment and Spatial Planning of the National Assembly of Slovenia and visited Bled.
The Chair of the Committee on Infrastructure, Environment and Spatial Planning Mr Bojan Podkrajsek, spoke of the excellent cooperation between the two states and expressed satisfaction with the visit of the members of Serbian Parliament. He emphasised his full support for Serbia's European integration, noting that the Committee was in favour of opening negotiation chapters. He went on to speak about the laws adopted, COP-26, climate change and nature conservation, pointing out that everyone in Slovenia is focused on environmental protection, with the preservation of forests, land and water being of paramount importance. Jasmina Karanac, Dubravka Filipovski and Vesna Ivkovic spoke of the laws passed in the National Assembly, which concern climate change and energy efficiency. They presented the Green Parliamentary Group’s work and efforts, expressing satisfaction with the opportunity to talk and learn about Slovenia’s best practice examples.
The delegation visited Bled, the seat of the Triglav National Park which covers the territory of 18 municipalities. The central information point is located in Bled and was built with the help of European Union funds. The members of the Green Parliamentary Group had a working meeting with the Mayor of Bled, Janez Fajfar, which proved very useful for understanding the problems of large tourist centres with low population numbers. The Mayor of Bled mentioned that the lake belongs to the state, but the coast belongs to the local self-government, which is sometimes a problem, because the lake requires cleaning and recultivation which the state is slow to do.
The study visit was organised with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia.
