site.btaMEP Novakov: Just Transition Fund Was Created to Preserve Incomes and Reward Workers’ Skills

The Just Transition Fund was created as an instrument to preserve incomes, reward workers’ skills, and create prospects in regions that pay the highest price of the transition, Bulgarian Member of the European Parliament Andrey Novakov (GERB/EPP) told BTA. In 2021, he took part in the debates in the European Parliament on the establishment of the Fund.

"I myself am the child of miners and know what livelihood and work mean for people who make enormous efforts combined with their innate industriousness. Then as now, their most common demand is for security and predictability. People want to know not only what will be closed, but what will be created in its place - when, with what incomes, and with what prospects," Novakov said on one of the topics in BTA’s EU Law BG column (a joint project of the European Parliament and BTA) concerning the implementation in Bulgaria of Regulation (EU) 2021/1056 of the European Parliament and the Council of 24 June 2021 establishing the Just Transition Fund.

Regulations adopted by the European Parliament have the legal force of laws and apply directly in EU Member States, unlike directives, which have the legal value of recommendations and must be transposed. Transposition is the process of incorporating EU directives into the national legislation of the Member States. Unlike regulations and decisions, directives are not directly applicable in EU countries and require national legislation for their rules to be introduced domestically.

In his current term, EPP Group MEP Andrey Novakov is rapporteur on the new model of national and regional partnership plans within the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the 2028–2034 period. A joint meeting of the Committees on Budgets (BUDG), Regional Development (REGI), and Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is scheduled for Monday, January 19. MEPs are expected to discuss proposals to merge regional, agricultural, and other funds into national "packages" (the so-called national and regional partnership plans) with Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Raffaele Fitto (Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms), as well as Commissioners Piotr Serafin (Budget) and Christophe Hansen (Agriculture).

The proposal submitted by the European Commission on July 16, 2025, as part of the MFF for 2028–2034, falls under the joint responsibility of the committees on budget, agriculture, and regional development. Andrey Novakov is one of the rapporteurs. He is a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development (REGI) and the Committee on Security and Defence.

In his work, the Bulgarian EPP MEP focuses on regional policy, the just transition, the economic resilience of regions, and the link between security and development. The EU Regulation establishing the Just Transition Fund is closely linked to the new model of regional policy.