Bulgaria’s Green Transition Fuels Protests
Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov has struggled to calm frustrations among coal miners following the announcement of the country’s “Just Transition” mechanism promoting renewable energy (Flickr).
After facing resistance and protests from hundreds of energy sector workers, the Bulgarian government submitted its green transition plan as part of the European Commission’s Just Transition mechanism on September 29. Bulgaria was the final European Union nation to submit these plans. The proposed plans provoked anger in the coal-mining regions of Stara Zagora, Pernik, and Kustendil. In response, miners and industrial workers organized protests and blocked roads, fearing unemployment.
Environmental degradation has become an important priority for the European Union. The European Green Deal plans to transform EU countries into modern, resource-efficient, competitive economies with net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Bulgaria’s proposed action timeline outlines the allocation of the European Commission’s $1.27 billion USD budget, with intentions to create new jobs for workers in the coal industry. Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov met with Minister of Finance Asen Vasilev at the meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 29.
Denkov appealed to energy workers to stop protests, stating: “In the documents we are sending, it is clearly stated that the plants will operate until 2038. Third - there are no dates for closing specific coal plants. Gradually, step by step, some of them will fall out of the energy system, simply because it will not be economically possible for them to function anymore.”
Denkov emphasized the importance of providing a transition period for the coal-mining regions, promising the creation of “mechanisms by which people who have the necessary qualifications can find employment in the same region.” Denkov proposes social packages and calls to stop protests, inviting representatives for further negotiations.
The Bulgarian government plans to enact strategies over the next 15 years to attract investment and secure incomes despite the gradual shutdown of the national coal industry. Denkov insists that many protestors’ demands are based on false and distorted information. Postponing the submission of the European Commission’s plan puts Bulgaria at risk of losing nearly $2 billion in funding through the program.
The government’s plans have driven tension within Bulgaria’s coalition government. Boyko Borissov, the former prime minister and current leader of the center-right GERB party, criticized Denkov’s handling of the plans. He said, “I do not think the government should have sent a deputy minister, whose name we do not know, to explain the territorial plans for a just transition of the coal regions.”
However, Borrisov has also sought to defend the plans. He restated the government’s promise to protesting miners to maintain operations of coal and energy plants until 2038, as well as offer severance pay.
Despite the government’s efforts, protests continue. On September 29, miners and energy-sector workers, alongside trade union representatives, gathered in front of the cultural center in Radnevo, Bulgaria to pressure the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, protesting for the protection of their jobs as the pressure for green transformation grows in Europe.