On 6 November 2019, the President of the Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia, Tomaž Vesel attended the 5th meeting of the presidency of the Association of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia which also saw the participation of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, Dejan Židan and the President of the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia, Alojz Kovšca.
At the meeting, which took place in Ribnica, the mayors discussed the polycentric development of Slovenia with the emphasis on providing services to all citizens within the entire area of Slovenia, and the relocation of national institutions, namely the organisation of work posts in public sector. Addressed were also two amended drafts of law related to regions.
The President of the Court of Audit pointed out some pending issues referred to establishing regions, such as financing regions, providing suitable human resources and financing Slovenian municipalities prior and after establishing regions.
Among others, the focus was also on polycentric development and the fact that not all citizens are treated equally since they do not have equal access to the services of general interest. The President highlighted also the growing problem of population ageing, poor public transport network, low investment power of the state and lack of assessment of the effects of solutions at the national level. Mr Vesel considered that this negative trend of centralisation may be curbed by increasing the number of work posts in rural areas, by changing the existing tax system and ensuring tax incentives, as well as by territorial presence of the state within the entire area of the Republic of Slovenia.
