Ioanna Theodosiou participated in the dialogue on the future of Western Macedonia, titled ‘Social Cohesion and Transition – Inequalities and Opportunities,’ organized by the newspaper Xronos Kozanis on Friday, March 28, 2025.
The discussion focused on the progress of the just transition so far, the use of available resources, the problems that have emerged, and the opportunities that are opening up for the upcoming period.
Ioanna Theodosiou addressed the quantitative figures showing the economic and social status of the Western Macedonia Region today and outlined the challenges the region faces, especially during the current transition period, such as demographic decline, unemployment, poverty, and the region’s economic structure. She also referred to the actions of other European countries regarding reskilling and upskilling workers in lignite areas, youth involvement in the transition, and the empowerment of women. Furthermore, she emphasized the need for continued funding for the just transition, as it is a long-term process that lasts much longer than a programming period. Finally, she highlighted that the characteristics of the Just Transition Fund, such as locality, the social dimension in resource allocation (such as support for small and medium-sized enterprises, addressing energy poverty, supporting the unemployed, training and education of the workforce), exclusion of investments in fossil fuels and nuclear energy, and the requirement for climate and environmental sustainability, should form the basis for shaping the new cohesion policy and the financial instruments for the next programming period.
The event began with greetings from the publisher of Xronos Kozanis, Giannis Kostarellas, the Head of the European Parliament Office in Athens, Kostas Tsoutsoplidis, the General Secretary for Communication and Information, Dimitris Galamatis, and the President of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia-Thrace (ESIEMTH), Giannis Voitsidis.
Other participants included the SYRIZA MEP and member of the Left Group in the European Parliament, Nikos Farandouris, the Governor of Western Macedonia, Giorgos Amanatidis, the Strategic Consultant and co-founder of the Just Transition Institute of Greece, Kostas Karamarkos, the Deputy Mayor of Kozani, Giorgos Alexandridis, and the President of the Regional Union of Municipalities of Western Macedonia, Panagiotis Kepaptsoglou.
The discussion was also enriched with contributions from the MP of Kozani for PASOK, Paris Koukoulopoulos, the former Mayor of Kozani and President of the Ecological Movement of Kozani, Lefteris Ioannidis, as well as the student from the 2nd Vocational High School of Kozani, Panagiota Lampropoulou, who raised questions about the participation of young people in the transition process and addressed the issue of equal treatment of all social groups during the transition.