The Director of the Regional Development Fund of Western Macedonia and President of the TEE, Mr Dimitris Mavromatidis, welcomed the representatives of the World Bank to the Regional Council of Western Macedonia on Monday afternoon. He spoke of a purely informative process so that society and institutional bodies may be briefed on the technical support provided by the World Bank, via the EU, to Western Macedonia, specifically regarding the transition. "For a year and a half now, we have been requesting the initiation of this process. There is a technical advisor, the World Bank, owing to the experience it has in the transformation of societies."
He mentioned the operation of the Coal Platform group for Western Macedonia, as well as the fact that the EU's commitment is the transition to clean energy. No region must be left behind by the transition from an economy based on fossil fuels. The initiative will facilitate the construction of projects, providing a strong impetus to the transition process.
The four pillars
The main product of the project is to assist the Region of Western Macedonia in the post-lignite era with new forms of development, stated one of the two Greek representatives of the World Bank.
There are four pillars:
-the first has to do with strengthening the governance system for the transition, drafting an economic plan, and the collaboration of public and private interest schemes.
-the second has to do with the preparation of the people, the evaluation of the human workforce affected by the transition, and its reallocation to other economic activities.
"Transition is achieved when decisions are made at the highest levels and there is coordination between ministries and bodies. It is important that local officials and workers' representatives be included in the consultations. Existing experience in other regions will be utilised, discussions will be held with all bodies, in order to establish a national governance committee for the transition," the World Bank representative noted.
–the third pillar is the repurposing and utilisation of land. "We are examining the existing legislative framework for the possibility of repurposing, we are outlining a general rehabilitation stage, we are conferring different modes of land development, and we are developing proposals for the repurposing of existing assets," it was emphasised.
–The fourth pillar concerns the utilisation of all the above for the drafting of a roadmap for the transition. This will be done in consultation with all bodies, with the final plan to be submitted to the region and the government emerging after evaluation.