Home

Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy

Minister without Portfolio, Responsible for Local Self-Government and Regional Development

	Dr Henrik Gjerkeš

Dr Henrik Gjerkeš

Henrik Gjerkeš was born on 5 March 1965 in Ptuj. He lived and attended school in Ljutomer. After finishing grammar school he enrolled at the Faculty of Technology in Maribor and continued his studies at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana where he successfully finished his Masters and PhD studies. From 1992 to 2006 he worked at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana as a researcher and assistant. In 2006 he started work as a fellow researcher and university professor – assistant professor at the School of Engineering and Management and the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Nova Gorica. In his scientific and research work at the national and international level he also dealt with regional development to a great extent. Besides teching and mentoring he also acted as a counsellor in projects of regional development and manager of national and international projects in the field of energy and environment. He also headed project groups in cooperation with the industry, regional communities and Government offices.

Dr. Henrik Gjerkeš is a member of the Senate at the School of Applied Sciences, president of the Academic Affairs Commission at the School of Engineering and Management and deputy head of the Laboratory for Multiphase Processes at the University of Nova Gorica and a member of the Pomurje Academic Scientific Union (PAZU). He has published over 55 articles in his field of work, mostly in established international publications (source: COBISS). Dr. Henrik Gjerkeš was responsible for the establishment, implementation and results of the system for fundamental research of the fermentation processes – in the international scientific terms also called the Controlled Nucleation Sites System; he has been awarded the scholarship of dr. Anton Trstenjak Foundation twice as an additional incentive and obligation for formal and informal cooperation and assistance in development projects in the Pomurje region; he cooperated in numerous applicative projects, he worked as an editor, he was a member of organisational boards of international conferences and was a successful professor especially in the field of sustainable and regional development in Slovenia.

Dr. Henrih Gjerkeš is fluent in English (University of Cambridge FCE certificate), German, Croatian and Serbian.

He and his family live in Grosuplje.

On 22 October 2009 he was appointed as the Minister without portfolio responsible for local self-government and regional development and replaced Zlata Ploštajner, MSc who resigned from the position.

State Secretary

	Duša Trobec Bučan

Duša Trobec Bučan

Duša Trobec Bučan graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Ljubljana in 1981.

In 1985 she passed the bar exam and in 2004 the mediator exam. From 1982 to 1985 she worked in Iskra Telematika. Until 1995 she worked as a lawyer and between 1995 and 2006 as a notary.

From 2006 she worked at the Ministry of Justice in the undersecretary title, later in the secretary title, from July to November 2007 she worked as the appointed higher court judge.

From January to September 2008 she worked at the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning in the secretary title, from October 2008 she worked at the Ministry Justice, also in the secretary title. 

Duša Trobec Bučan was appointed State Secretary in the Government Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy on 24 December 2009 by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia.

Organisation

Minister without Portfolio, Responsible for Local Self-Government and Regional Development

Dr Henrik Gjerkeš

Phone: +386 1  308 31 78

Fax: +386 1 478 36 19

e-mail: henrik.gjerkes[@]gov.si

State Secretary:

Duša Trobec Bučan

Phone: + 386 1 30 83 178

Fax: + 386 1 478 36 19

e-mail: dusa.trobec-bucan[@]gov.si meta.vesel-valentincic[@]gov.si

Deputy Directors:

Peter Wostner, MSc

Phone: + 386 1/308 31 96

fax: + 386 1/478 37 60

e-mail: peter.wostner[@]gov.si

Igor Strmšnik, MSc

Phone: +386 1 478 37 50,

fax: +386 1 478 37 60

e-mail: igor.strmsnik[@]gov.si

Minister's Office

Head of the Office

Urban Krajcar, MA

Phone: 386 1 400 55 52

fax: 386 1 400 55 35

e-mail: urban.krajcar[@]gov.si

Local Self-Government and Regional Polica Department

Director: dr. Roman Lavtar

phone: + 386 1/434 15 12

fax: + 386 1/434 15 38

e-mail: roman.lavtar[@]gov.si

Cohesion Policy Department

Director: Mateja Čepin, MA 

phone: + 386 1/400 55 61

fax: + 386 1/400  55 35

e-mail: mateja.cepin[@]gov.si

Public Relations and Promotion Office:

e-mail: sojp.svlr[@]gov.si

Nina Omerza

Phone: +386 1 400 55 55

fax: +386 1 400  55 35

e-mail: nina.omerza[@]gov.si

Nataša  Kogej

Phone: 01/478 34 78

e-mail: natasa.kogej[@]gov.si

Maja  Belec

Phone: 01/400 55 71

e-mail: maja.belec[@]gov.si

Main Areas of Activity

The Government Office for Local Self-Government and Regional Policy performs the following tasks in the field of local self-government, regional development and European cohesion policy:

• preparing systemic regulations in the field of organisation, functioning and financing of municipalities;
• coordinating work with ministries and other bodies in the preparation of systemic solutions and regulations in the field of organisation, functioning and financing of municipalities;
• ensuring the implementation of the European Charter on Local Self-Government and legislation in the field of organisation, functioning and financing of municipalities;
• directing and advising municipal bodies in securing the legality of their work in the field of the systemic regulations of local self-government;
• preparing systemic analyses of local self-government;
• providing professional assistance to municipalities, and co-operating with associations of municipalities;
• participating in the Steering Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR) of the Council of Europe, with the delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE), and the delegation of the Committee of Regions (COR) of the European Union;
• cooperating with organisations, institutions and other bodies in foreign countries in the field of the organisation and implementation of local self-government;
• setting-up a database for monitoring the operation of municipal bodies and a database for the support of municipalities;
• performing other tasks in the field of local self-government;
• coordinating the activities for the implementation of the Promotion of Balanced Regional Development Act and regional development policy and performing general administrative functions relating to direct regional initiatives and the National Development Programme;
• directing the policies and monitoring the implementation of the programme of work of the National Agency for Regional Development and the National Fund for Regional Development and the Preservation of Settlement of Rural Areas; ensuring professional support to the functioning of the Structural Policy Council, the Council for Sustainable Development and the Development and Business Council for Slovenes Outside Slovenia;
• performing tasks in the field of the international inter-regional development cooperation, particularly in the fields of cross-border development projects, the formation of Euro-regions and business and scientific research cooperation with Slovenes outside Slovenia;
• preparing and harmonising strategic documents with the EU, on the basis of which the RS will receive EU Cohesion Policy support;
• performing tasks of general management for the needs of European structural funds and the Cohesion Fund deriving from applicable EU cohesion policy legislation;
• coordinating, defining, monitoring and evaluating the work of ministries, Government Offices and other bodies and offices involved in the implementation of the European Cohesion Policy and reporting on this to the Government, and other functions in the area of the European Cohesion Policy;
• preparing systemic regulations in the field of regional development;
• performing tasks of general management of development incentives for municipalities;
• monitoring data concerning regional-level institutions, and signing contracts with these institutions for the performance of tasks of public interest;
• advising bodies on the levels of development and cohesion in regions in order to ensure the legality of their work in the light of systemic legislation on regional development;
• preparing analyses and reports on the implementation of the regional development strategy, ensuring the basis for research in the field of regional development, and systematically ensuring the development of analytical tools and methodologies in the field of the office activities;
• performing advisory, acceleratory and other developmental and professional tasks of the government in the promotion of regional development;
• managing and carrying out programmes of cross-border and inter-regional cooperation (Phare CBC and economic and social cohesions, INTERREG III A – Italy, Austria, Hungary; INTERREG III C; INTERACT; objective No. 3 in the 2007-2013 period) and coordinating at national level the initiatives of the INTERREG III community.

The office develops, maintains and ensures the functioning of the information infrastructure and the umbrella information system for the implementation and monitoring of the national development programme, regional development programmes and programmes part-financed by the EU.