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Rebuilding from this month’s floods in Slovenia will cost €7 billion ($7.6 billion) over the next five years, Prime Minister Robert Golob said.

The government is preparing new legislation to serve as a road map for reconstruction after the worst natural disaster in living memory destroyed and damaged homes and businesses and killed at least seven people across the Alpine southern European nation.

The European Union will provide about €2 billion to finance the rebuilding effort, which will cost more than the current €4.7 billion damage estimate. The goal of the reconstruction will be to make the affected areas “significantly more resistant” to extreme weather events, Golob told parliament on Thursday.

Lawmakers will also revise the 2023 budget to free up €520 million euros to start the process of cleaning up the damage. Ljubljana won’t require additional borrowing in international markets to cover the spending Finance Minister Klemen Bostjancic said.

Photograph: A view of flooded business district near town of Kamnik, Slovenia, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Miro Majcen)

Related:

• Slovenia Suffers Its Worst-Ever Floods; Damage Could Top €500M, Prime Minister Says

Topics Flood