Social Sustainability and the Participatory and Deliberative Gap in Just Energy Transition Governance: A Comparative Expert Survey in Greece, Poland, and Bulgaria

Ensuring procedural justice and inclusive governance is essential for the social sustainability of energy transitions, particularly in regions undergoing profound socio-economic restructuring following coal phase-out. However, the extent to which participatory and deliberative principles are embedded in transition governance at the regional level remains insufficiently understood. This study assesses the participatory and deliberative gap in three former coal-dependent European regions—Western Macedonia in Greece, Silesia in Poland, and Stara Zagora in Bulgaria—and examines its implications for socially sustainable just transition governance. Their selection follows a comparative logic that combines structural similarity with institutional variation. This combination provides an appropriate comparative setting for examining whether participatory and deliberative gaps constitute common features of coal-transition governance or vary according to regional and national institutional contexts. A comparative survey of 165 experts and policymakers was conducted to assess structural barriers, public participation, institutional trust, policy equity, and the use of digital deliberation technologies. The empirical evidence reveals a substantial mismatch between the normative importance attributed to participation and its practical implementation. While public participation is considered crucial (M = 4.19, SD = 0.96), satisfaction with policy equity remains low (M = 2.66, SD = 1.20), alongside low levels of trust in governance (M = 2.79, SD = 1.20). These weaknesses are associated particularly with complex bureaucracy, corporate dominance, and persistent institutional mistrust. A gap analysis of deliberative principles further demonstrates a systematic disconnect between expected (“Should Have”) and experienced (“Have”) governance conditions, with the Greek expert sample reporting the largest average gap (+1.39), compared with Poland (+0.68) and Bulgaria (+0.58). Conventional videoconferencing was reported as more widely used and received higher perceived-effectiveness ratings than specialized deliberation platforms. These ratings reflect stakeholder perceptions and should not be interpreted as evidence of superior deliberative or democratic performance. By empirically identifying and comparing participatory, deliberative, and institutional deficits, the study contributes to the assessment of the governance dimension of social sustainability in coal-transition regions. The findings demonstrate that sustainable energy transitions require not only environmental and economic transformation but also institutional arrangements capable of ensuring meaningful participation, deliberative quality, trust, and procedural equity. Given the cross-sectional expert-based design, future research should validate these findings longitudinally and across a broader range of coal-transition regions, while incorporating citizen-level perspectives.