Opposition to Green Transformation in EU: Perspectives from Poland

It is hardly do disagree to that aim of achieving climate neutral Europe has provoked democratic dissensus on industrial politics of Member States. Despite the recent political science scholarship contributed devoted to democratic imaginaries of green transformation across the European continent(Buzogány et al., 2025; Parks, 2025), this study turns to Poland as single case study since it has been one of the center of discussions (Michalewska-Pawlak 2024) on achieving green agenda between central-local levels. Case selection in investigation is no accident: objectives of green policies of EU pose a significant threat to Polish coal industry, as this perceived threat is politically engineered as a “sovereignty” issue by conservative right wing PiS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) as main opposition party. The core aim of this study is to explore how do the European Green Deal objectives impact central-local relations of Poland in terms of national coal industry. And if so, what are main assumptions driving political tensions between two levels? What are diverging interests of the actors? How does this co-existence of different perceptions impact political landscape of the Poland? For the purpose of offering exploratory approach of this impact on central-local relations, this study methodologically employs qualitative research methods. Sources in the literature, new reports in media, data derived from international indexes and think-tanks, outputs obtained from expert analysis interviews will make up the data collection tools in the content analysis technique in answering research questions of the study. Preliminary findings show that implementation of green policies has triggered policitical polarization and raised questions on democratic legitimacy between its proponents versus opponents in Polish public. A key hypothesis to be tested in this study is problems related to the green energy transition in Poland are an instrument of political rivalry, especially in former post-industrial cities.