According to the broadcaster, several more such verdicts can be expected.

The decision by the Ljubljana District Court, adopted at the beginning of the year, pertains to the denationalisation of 20,000 hectares of forest in the areas of Mozirje (NE) and Radovljica (NW).

The Church grounded the lawsuit in its inability to use the land between 1991 when the act on denationalisation entered into force and the point when the verdicts on the return became final, in this case in 2006 and 2007.

The head of the Farmland and Forest Fund Irena Šinko told TV Slovenija that this had been the highest damages claim so far.

She warned the fund would not be able to make many more of such payments and that the state as its founder would have to chip in.

It is speculated that such cases could encourage damage lawsuits by many more denationalisation beneficiaries, while this was also only the first major claim filed by the Ljubljana Archdiocese. Reportedly, it is demanding a total of EUR 32m.

The archdiocese said in a response that the high amounts were a result of the long delays, which were often caused by a reluctance to returning the assets in kind.