Rewriting the Energy System: An Economic Perspective on the Green Transition Enhancing Labor Reskilling and Economic Resilience in Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria

It is obvious that climate change has unequal territorial effects, particularly in coal-dependent Eastern European regions, where reducing emissions risks is exacerbating labour movements creating big gaps on the labour market. Given that, this study is trying to answer to the following research question: To what extent do the policies of the Just Transition Fund (JTF) in Poland (Silesia), Romania (Jiu Valley) and Bulgaria (Stara Zagora) increase the retraining of the workforce and regional economic resilience amid energy transitions towards the EU 2030 decarbonization targets? By overcoming the general definitions, this paper provides a specific contribution through comparative analysis of gaps in the implementation of the JTF, addressing the shortcomings of the literature on micro equity in green macroeconomic exchanges. Empirical evidence also shows that reducing greenhouse gases by phasing out coal threatens 1.5 million jobs in these states, but the current JTF allocations (€4.4 billion for Poland, €2.1 billion for Romania, €900 million for Bulgaria) promise to retrain in the field of renewable sources and services. This qualitative study uses in-depth case studies of JTF-funded programs (for example, Silesian retraining hubs in Poland) and analysis of policy documents from the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) focusing on the energy sector at national-subnational level. The findings demonstrate that while the JTF increases retraining rates by 25-30% in the targeted districts (for example, 50,000 retrained Polish workers by 2025), unequal governance is obstructing the resilience: Poland excels through public-private partnerships, but Romania has big delays due to the bureaucratic apparatus.