The EC Just Transition Fund, running between 2021 and 2027, is a crucial part of the EU’s effort to meet its climate goals and is intended to support member states to decarbonise and shift away from fossil fuel use to greener industries.
However, this cross-border team of European journalists has found significant delays in spending, structural problems with the fund, a lack of support for communities and local workers during the transition, and funds being spent on projects that are not necessarily relevant to these climate goals, among other concerns.
For example, despite the EU having effectively given a huge sum of money to three Hungarian counties, the government did not distribute a single forint. The money was partly intended to mitigate the negative effects caused by the closure of the Mátravidéki Power Plant, but the plant has not yet been closed.
- It has been almost three years since the European Union provided Hungary with €250 million, or approximately 100 billion forints, from the so-called Just Transition Fund to help it deal with the negative effects of measures taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
- The money was intended for micro-enterprises, small and medium-sized companies, private individuals, and indirectly for workers who lost their jobs due to the transition.
- The total amount of 100 billion forints could be distributed in the form of grants in three counties: Baranya, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, and Heves. The latter two counties are home to the Mátra Power Plant, dubbed a "climate killer" by environmentalists, and the mines that serve it.
- Although a decision was made at the end of 2022 to launch the program, no applications have been issued since then. Instead, the list of stakeholders was rewritten this year, and the population was simply left out of it.
- Many attribute the delay to the situation surrounding the Mátra Power Plant, namely that it will not close when the government promised the EU it would, but Baranya County, which has nothing to do with the power plant, will not be able to access the funds.
- Some of the money has almost certainly been lost in the meantime: we understand that the amount is now estimated at 80 billion forints rather than 100 billion.
Photo credit: Piotr Arnoldes
