We will not close the Turów mine, the EU Morawiecki bequeathed and criticized the Czech Republic – PRAVDA.sk

Poland will not close the Turów lignite mine near the border with the Czech Republic, despite a preliminary ruling by the European Court of Justice, otherwise millions of Polish households would be left “without electricity and heat”. This was stated by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who also sharply criticized the court and the Czech Republic as the applicant. The government in Warsaw plans to take legal action against the court’s decision.

On Monday, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ordered Poland to pay the European Commission (EC) a daily penalty of EUR 500,000 for non-compliance with the interim measure on the immediate suspension of mining.

At a press conference, Morawiecki called the court’s decision “radically aggressive” and endangering the health and lives of Poles. According to him, the amount of the penalty itself is “disproportionate and arbitrary”. He stressed that the Turów mine supplies brown coal to a nearby thermal power plant, which provides electricity to millions of households and covers four to seven percent of the country’s electricity consumption.

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According to Morawiecki, the Turów mine is important for Poland’s energy security. In addition, tens of thousands of jobs are linked to its operation.

No goodwill

He also accused the Czech Republic, which has filed a lawsuit against Poland in a European court, with the report “absolutely without good will” and such an attitude is not justified by the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Turów Mine is located in the immediate vicinity of the Polish border with the Czech Republic and Germany. The Czech Republic complains that the Polish side’s plans to expand the operation of the mine are damaging the environment and, in particular, the groundwater status on the Czech side.

At the end of May, the European Court issued an interim measure ordering the immediate cessation of the mine’s operation pending a final decision in the action. The court has now imposed a penalty on Poland precisely for failing to comply with this interim measure.