Abstract

The Just Transition Fund was introduced in 2021 as part of the European Union’s
Green New Deal and aims to assuage some of the painful social consequences of
the green transition. Relying on the Multiple Streams Framework, this article reconstructs the JTF’s institution. It identifes 2018–2019 as a key conjuncture in the
European Union when various social, ideational and political preconditions enabling policy innovation converged. Subsequently, the need to publicly fnance a just
transition emerged in relation to some Eastern European states’ reluctance to work
towards the 2050 climate neutrality target. After a Polish-led confguration of actors
propelled the JTF onto the agenda, the von der Leyen Commission assumed the task
of designing a less transparently self-serving policy instrument necessary to garner wider political support. The fnal JTF emerged from the interplay between two
policy entrepreneurs in the context of the negotiations on the 2021–2027 European
Union budget and the dislocations provoked by the COVID-19 crisis.

To cite this article:

Kyriazi, A., Miró, J. Towards a socially fair green transition in the EU? An analysis of the Just Transition Fund using the Multiple Streams Framework. Comp Eur Polit (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-022-00304-6