C 498/36
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
30.12.2022
Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions — Just and Sustainable Transition in the context of the coal and energy intensive regions (2022/C 498/07)
Rapporteur general:
Sari RAUTIO (FI/EPP), Chair of board, Häme health care district
Reference document:
Referral letter from Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU from 16 June 2022
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS (CoR),
1.
welcomes the mission of a climate-neutral European Union by 2050, which will require a digital and green transition in Europe’s municipalities and regions that will fundamentally affect the way people work and live; 2. notes that the offensive war launched by Russia in February 2022 has made the just transition more difficult and yet more urgent as Europe needs to become less reliant on external energy supplies in a short period of time.
Underlines that the transition to a low-carbon society must be achieved while considering the needs of the most vulnerable citizens, by creating new jobs and equal opportunities in rural and coal dependent regions; 3. welcomes that 74 plans were submitted by the Member States, which are all based on the different circumstances in the respective regions; underlines that the changing world landscape led to an energy crisis, which forced some Member States to temporarily find flexible regional solutions to meet the programme’s objectives; 4. underlines the cumbersome procedures for the approval of the plans and stresses that some regions face problems with the timely planning and execution of projects due to the fact that the bigger part of the total available funds, coming from the RRF, has been programmed for 2021-2023, giving little opportunity for sustainable implementation of projects towards the end of the programming period; regrets that only a fraction of the programmes have been assessed and approved by the European Commission and calls on the Commission to consider extending the spending deadline for those resources for the Just Transition Funds that are financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility; 5. is of the opinion — starting from this premise — that the timeframe for the implementation of the Fund should be reviewed to ensure the Fund’s success; 6. underlines that the Just Transition Fund should be mainstreamed within cohesion policy, so that synergies and spillover effects can be fully used; 7. points out that the just transition must focus on those regions where change, and the risks it poses, are greater, as Member States and regions have very different starting points.
The Fund’s success depends on the largest beneficiary countries, Poland and Germany, which together account for around one third of the total Fund, i.e. almost 33 %.
Romania, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria are also major beneficiaries.
These five Member States together account for almost 60 % of the funds.
The implementation of these Member States’ plans on schedule (territorial just transition plan, TJTP) will be key to the success of the programme as a whole; 8. stresses that, in connection with the JTF, it is essential to take account of the current major energy crisis.
This crisis also poses a serious threat to a just and green transition, at least in the short term.
In particular, the energy sector, energy-intensive industries, the manufacturing sector and SMEs are struggling with unprecedented price pressures, which put additional pressure on the green transition; underlines that the industry’s ambitions to become carbon-neutral also depend on the availability of green electricity for hydrogen production and on alternative energy sources to replace natural gas; welcomes that the Just Transition Fund can play a role in achieving this goal;