Former Bulgarian PM: We must view the Green Deal through a ‘new prism’

4 months ago 26

The European Green Deal, which came under heavy political attacks in the past year, must be looked at through a new prism of opportunity and pragmatism, Sergei Stanishev, former Bulgarian prime minister and former leader of the Party of European Socialists, told Euractiv in an interview.

Stanishev spoke on the sidelines of the “Green Transition Forum 4.0. – the new perspectives for Central and Eastern Europe” held in Sofia on 26-28 June. At the opening of the forum, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev questioned the success of the outgoing European Commission’s flagship policy.

Stanishev, who was one of the organisers of the forum and moderated a forum with former US State Secretary John Kerry and Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič, acknowledged that the Green Deal had become the target of many attacks and was in need of a second breath.

He said Bulgarians in general perceive the Green Deal as “suffering and something invented by the Brussels bureaucracy, which was imposed on them and of which they are the victims”.

“No one is arguing that the Green Deal should not be modernised. Socialists, for example, say that if this policy does not take into account the social cost and does not create protection and new jobs for people, it will not succeed”, Stanishev said.

“No policy without public support is successful. We have seen that there have been farmers’ protests for months, and this means that [the Green Deal] must be looked at through a new prism, but not under pressure. The prism should be opportunities and pragmatism.”

“The Green Deal is the beginning of a new industrial revolution that will help us live better,” said Stanishev, who spoke highly of the Green Deal architect, former Commission vice president Frans Timmermans.

At the same time, he argued against an ideological approach to EU policies.

“Christians believe in what is written in the Bible, and Muslims in what is written in the Koran. However, this is not the case in politics”, he said, arguing that there was room for learning from experience.

“Right now, we are in a stage of rethinking what is happening in the economy and what we can change and improve.”

Stanishev explained that the Bulgarian society would not accept the green transition as an artificial exercise imposed by the bureaucracy, but instead, it should be “an opportunity to modernise our production, economies and innovations”.

Asked if Ursula von der Leyen – should she win another mandate to run the Commission – might abandon some of the green policies, under pressure from conservatives and far-right politicians in the European Parliament, Stanishev said the direction of Europe would not change in general.

In his words, the Green Deal and green transition are already part of the EU’s long-term policies. “We all know it is very difficult to change European legislation, even if there are such requests.”

According to him, politicians should have an honest conversation with society and understand the real needs of people, who also need to understand what opportunities green policies can provide.

“When I was prime minister, there was a need for very large public funding of green projects. Now these projects are much cheaper. Instead, we [in Bulgaria] are subsidising coal power,” said Stanishev, who was prime minister between 2005 and 2009.

Bulgaria possesses significant reserves of coal, estimated at 4.8 billion tonnes, but electricity production from coal became uncompetitive due to the cost of CO2 emissions.

According to Stanishev, Europe needs to return to the spirit of the Enlightenment, which was the basis of the first industrial revolution.

“We are now experiencing a much larger revolution. But this should be explained to the people, to those who are pressed by the domestic problems (…) so that everyone can understand the benefit of these policies,” he said.

[Edited by Donagh Cagney/Zoran Radosavljevic]