site.btaSofia Hosts Green Transition: Solutions and Challenges for Bulgaria Forum

October 15 (BTA) - The first real step on the way to the
Green Transition is the preparation of the Recovery and
Resilience Plan. This lays the foundations for a green and
digital transformation of the economy in the context of the
Green Deal's ambitious goals, caretaker Prime Minister Stefan
Yanev said Friday, opening the Green Transition: Solutions and
Challenges for Bulgaria forum.
   
On Friday, the Recovery and Resilience Plan will be submitted
formally for consideration by the European Commission. It is
aligned to the EU vision and priorities, and steps on an
entirely new philosophy of development of the economy, the Prime
 Minister said. The principal changes prioritize decarbonization
 of the economy, enhanced support for business at the
introduction of financial instruments and partial replacement of
 the earlier compensatory financial support, investment focus on
 the social sphere of education, health care and social support,
 which will also enhance the potential of the economy through
investments and human capital.
   
The scope of the Plan totals some 13 billion leva, 59 investment
 projects and 46 reforms. The Recovery and Resilience Plan will
give the economy, industry and business the impetus they need
for development, Yanev said.

EC Vice President Frans Timmermans, who is attending the forum,
said the transition in the coal-producing regions would be
achieved in a fair manner and promised that no one would be
abandoned or forgotten. Timmermans is in charge of the Green
Deal.

The only question here is how to create a better future for
Europe's coal regions, the EC Vice President pointed out, noting
 that there are 30 of them to date and that they already know
that their long-term future cannot be associated with coal
mining.     
    
What is needed in those regions are better jobs, social and
economic development, according to Timmermans.
    
What is needed is infrastructure that would have a key role in
the future mobility and connectivity. Those employed in coal
mining should be trained, their skills should be changed and
they should be reskilled, Timmermans noted. He further said that
 Bulgaria has a huge brain potential, that a great opportunity
can be seen in electromobility and, considering the beauty of
this country, enormous opportunities lie in the tourism and
service industries.

In the next few months, Bulgaria's Recovery and Resilience Plan
will be analysed very carefully, Timmermans said, adding that
the EC would take into consideration that Bulgaria faces serious
 challenges in its energy sector and that it should be
guaranteed that these challenges become successful measures.
    
The green transition in itself could be a source of new jobs,
British Ambassador Rob Dixon said. In the last decade Britain
has succeeded in opening over 400,000 new green jobs which
support new industries and technologies that will replace fossil
 fuels, he added.

EU Commissioner for Innovation Mariya Gabriel underscored the
key role of science and innovation to turn the challenges
related to the green transition into opportunities.
    
She said the main problem is how the challenges related to the
green transition could become a strategy of growth, a strategy
for jobs, clearly perceived in every single region in Europe as
a fair process benefiting people.

Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Pekanov said climate change is a
typical example of a market failure the right solution to which
will not be found without serious intervention. Difficult issues
 have been avoided for far too long in Bulgaria, and climate
change is a topic this country has shied away from for a long
time.
    
The concerns of people in the coal-mining regions about their
livelihood and future should be understood. Compensation
mechanisms and instruments are needed to help support people, he
 pointed out.
     
New industries and new, sustainable jobs and incomes could be
created through the Recovery and Resilience Plan, Pekanov said.
The Plan's mechanisms also helped increase the funds for
developing renewable energy sources, he added.
    
Consensus with the people concerned with their future was
achieved. The 2.4 billion leva available from the Just
Transition Fund will help people in the coal-mining regions and
they will have a better and greener future, Pekanov said.
    
The reforms envisaging new RES capacity and energy consumption
are also important, Pekanov said. Funds set aside in the Plan
for economic transformation for RES meeting businesses' own
needs were increased 11-fold from 20 to 220 million leva. Funds
for instalment of rooftop solar panels were increased sevenfold.
 The Plan will promote electromobility and the instalment of
charging stations, the Deputy PM added.

European Investment Bank Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova said:
"We would like to turn the EIB into a Climate Bank of the EU and
 Europe." EIB has a Climate Roadmap with a clear goal of
decarbonization of the economy. Fifty per cent of EIB
investments are focused on climate sustainable projects. The
bank is phasing out the funding of fossil fuel related projects
and encourages investments in RES, building rehabilitation and
transport modernization, Pavlova pointed out.

Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova remarked that the present
situation, with the surge in the prices of natural gas,
electricity and other resources, is making life very costly and
is generating enormous scepticism. That scepticism can be curbed
 only by an adequate reaction by both the EC and the national
governments.


***

In a separate development, protesting representatives of the
Podkrepa Confederation of Labour met with EC Vice President
Frans Timmermans, the trade union said.
   
Timmermans talked to the trade union representatives who were
carrying candles as a symbol of the future facing Bulgaria if it
 closes down its coal-fired power plants without any fair
transition strategies or prospects for the sector's workforce.
   
On October 13, the influential Confederation of Independent
Trade Unions in Bulgaria and Podkrepa held a rally in central
Sofia to protest at the planned closure of coal-fired power
plants in the Maritsa basin as required by the EU in keeping
with its plans for decarbonization of the economy. Union leaders
 met with Prime Minister Stefan Yanev and ministers. Workers
protested in defence of the coal-fired power plants and
submitted a collection of 110,000 signatures in favour of this.


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