The Polish prime minister said on Tuesday that Poland hopes to make progress in negotiations with the new Czech government on the open-pit lignite Turow mine near the border, referring to the most serious dispute between two EU member states in decades.
After Prague complained about environmental damage in Czech villages, the European Union’s Supreme Court ordered Poland to stop operations at the Turow mine on the border with the Czech Republic, which also meant closing a nearby power plant.
So far, Poland has ignored the May order of the European Court of Justice (CJEU).
“…We absolutely do not intend to stop the operation of mines and power plants. Mines and power plants provide electricity and heat to hundreds of thousands of Polish households,” Mateusz Morawiecki said.
“…It is possible to end this dispute amicably with the Czech side…I hope these negotiations will progress in January, maybe even earlier, but I don’t want to predict the facts here,” he Added.
In November, the Czech Ministry of Environment stated that Poland’s new dispute resolution proposal was unacceptable, adding that it must be discussed with the new government formed after the October election earlier this month.
(Editing by Barbara Lewis)
