The transition from a grey to green economy was the topic discussed during an event organised by EPP-CoR Member Csaba Borboly, President of the Harghita County as part of the European Week of Regions and Cities. The need to invest in training of workers and to help vulnerable communities through the transition were key issues raised. The event was moderated by Gyula Winkler (RO/EPP), Member of the European Parliament andVice-Chair of Committee on International Trade.
Borboly spoke about the need to look at the various aspects of the transition and how these impact everyday life of citizens. "While in Romania winters are as cold as in south of Finland and we are still warming houses with wood. This has a big impact on climate change. We need a good innovative project in order to implement a sustainable way of warming houses. He also spoke about the need to invest in training and new jobs to ensure that cities and regions do not experience demographic shocks. "I am talking now from a town that has lost half of it population due to the shutting down of the copper mine. We have to create jobs for the former mine workers if we want them to stay and not have a demographic change in this area."
Addressing the event was also Olgierd Geblewicz, President of the Westpomeranian Region and President of EPP-CoR Group who described villages, cities and regions as engines of change building more sustainable societies. He said that villages, cities and regions were implementing various projects on the ground and thus had to be fully engaged to achieve the green deal targets. "We are convinced that working together in line with the principles of multi-level governance and subsidiarity is the only way forward if we want to translate the Green Deal objectives into sustainable local projects that transform our societies and make them more resilient" he said.
Geblewicz emphasised that the transition had to leave no one behind. "The transition from grey to green economy needs to be done with the people and for the people, in a just and fair manner." He added that the most vulnerable communities need appropriate financial support, access to knowledge and support to access innovative technologies. He reiterated Borboly's appeal for putting people at the centre of the transition. In this regard, Geblewicz said that it is important to establish regional vocational trainings to provide capacity building and training to repurpose labour skills towards more sustainable industries in the most affected regions.
Among the various proposals and appeals made, Geblewicz called for investment in green and blue projects. Furthermore, he reiterated the call of the EPP-CoR for the Commission to provide direct access to EU funds for local and regional governments arguing that local and regional authorities know best what local needs are. In his concluding remarks, the President of the EPP-CoR group said that the transition needs to be done in the spirit of solidarity. "With the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves as a result of a pandemic, we cannot leave any citizen behind."