Abstract

The development of the green policies of the European Union (EU) has established a framework in which national governments had to introduce environmental measures with serious social and economic consequences. The present article examines the relationship political initiative – environmental awareness – pro-environmental behavior through the prism of a specific case study related to the 2023 protests in Bulgaria against the closure of coal plants. The analysis of public attitudes and of media discourse reveals that the Bulgarian government avoided legitimizing its decisions through ecological motivations. Low levels of trust in political institutions and the perceived lack of prestige of ecological issues are shifting research attention to the barriers to pro-environmental behavior in contemporary European societies.