ATHENS — The region of Western Macedonia is in danger of becoming a 'black hole' on Greece's map, by way of the government's plan to end dependency on lignite for electricity production, SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday.

Speaking at Kozani, where he met with production sector representatives, he said that "Western Macedonia is being treated as a social guinea pig, while youth unemployment there stands at 70 pct," he added. He described the government's lignite phase-out policy as a "non-plan" which does not take into account the parameters set out in the EU's Just Transition Platform (JTP).

President of the local Public Power Company's (PPC) workers union 'Spartakos' Giorgos Adamidis pointed out that some 2,000 local jobs have been lost since the government announced its lignite transition plan.