The UNWE Team on BOLSTER Project Established a Local Justice Transition Alliance in Stara Zagora

On 9 June 2023 within the frameworks of BOLSTER project, funded by the European Commission, under the call Stimulating the Justice Transition in Europe on the Horizon Europe Programme, a Local Justice Transition Alliance /LJTA/ was established to serve as a kind of advisory committee for the actions taken in Stara Zagora region and to look after the public interest in the context of the European Green Deal.

Coordinators and partners of UNWE in the establishment of the Local Justice Transition Alliance are Assoc. Prof. Dr. Milena Ilieva and Dr. Gancho Iliev from the NGO World Without Borders.

Representatives of eight local organizations, including representatives of the local government, the regional administration, the Public Mediator of the Municipality of Stara Zagora, the Agency for Regional Economic Development, the Thracian University - Stara Zagora, the Regional Employment Service, the NGO Samarians, the International Youth Center in Stara Zagora, participated in the first meeting of the Local Justice Transition Alliance. The major topic for discussion was related to the necessity of research on how marginalized communities are affected by the policies of the European Green Deal and necessity to study the opportunities to involve all potentially affected parties in the decision-making processes.

The Alliance members discussed some ideas for the implementation of the Justice Transition Policy measures and the Local Justice Transition Plan for Stara Zagora region. LJTA participants provided feedback to better understanding the perspectives of various stakeholders in the Justice Transition process and expressed a willingness to assist in facilitating contacts with communities participating and not participating in the Justice Transition. In the frameworks of the meeting a feedback was implemented regarding the planned scope the project work with the Multitask Forums /in compliance with the BOLSTER framework and the local context/ and suggestions were given for enriching the policy dialogues. Participants summarized the future work programme with priority on the importance and urgency of the measures to be taken to accelerate the implementation of the Local Justice Transition Plan for the region.

The members of the UNWE team on BOLSTER project are Prof. Dr. Hristina Nikolova - Institutional Coordinator and Project Head for UNWE - Economics of Transport and Energy Department, Prof. Dr. Daniela Ivanova - Economics of Natural Resources Department, Prof. Dr. Elka Vassileva - Economics of Natural Resources Department, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alexander Stoyanov - Economic Sociology Department, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vladimir Zinoviev - Economics of Transport and Energy Department, Doctoral student Nadia Parpulova - Economics of Transport and Energy Department.