widthCzech government Announce it is Sued Poland to the European Supreme Court This surprised Warsaw. After all, EU countries rarely sue each other. Prague’s demands are politically explosive. It not only challenges the mining activities of Turów, which is a large brown coal mine that has been in operation for nearly 100 years, but also hopes that the European Court of Justice will order the immediate closure of the mine.
The Czech government stated that the open-pit mine is sandwiched between Germany and the Czech Republic in the Silesian region of southwestern Poland. It is depleting the groundwater supply of its neighboring countries and is violating EU environmental laws. On the Czech and German side of the border, Community blame Turów drains water and creates dangerous levels of air and noise pollution.
The Polish government strongly opposes the environmental declaration. Government officials in Warsaw and PGE, the state-owned utility company that owns Turów maintain They have been in regular consultations with Prague and there is no reason to escalate the dispute.
However, some people in Poland admitted that the deterioration of the relationship was related to the interruption of communication and also to the mine.
“We got what we asked for. It was a bit of our fault,” said Magdalena Kościańska, a TV reporter in Bogatynia, a Polish city near the mine. For the past 16 years, Kościańska has been reporting local news in her community, and has never seen compatriots in Bogatina abuse Czechs to such a degree both online and offline. The Hands off Turów Facebook page has appeared, and news of the lawsuit has caused a lot of insults to Czech nationals. “It’s very difficult and sad. We are neighbors, we like each other, and we all have friends among Czechs and Germans,” she said.
In addition to the lawsuit, the Czech government has applied to the European Court of Justice for an injunction that will immediately stop mining in Turów. For the citizens of Bogatynia, the overnight closure would bring disaster.
“The consequences will be dramatic. We can’t even imagine,” said Vojciech Dobrovovich, the acting mayor of Bogatynia. Closing the mine will make thousands of people in the region unemployed and cut Bogatynia’s budget in half.
For more than a century, the region has been economically dependent on coal mines, even though The labor force of the complex, which includes a coal-fired power plant, has fallen to approximately 3,600 employees in recent years. The mine’s concession will expire in 2026, but its operator has applied for a new concession as long as the Turów coal deposit continues to be used, which is expected to be 2044.
“Even the prospect of 2044 is terrible for us. It does not even give us 50 years, which is enough for a complete, safe transition that will not negatively affect the region,” Dobrołowicz said.
Some analysts believe that economic power means Turov writes much faster. “In less than 10 years, the entire complex will no longer be viable,” said Robert Tomaszewski, an energy analyst at Polityka Insight in Warsaw.
The EU’s commitment to reducing carbon dioxide2 To reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, coal must be abandoned to use cleaner alternatives.
In the short term, coal is also under pressure from soaring prices in the European carbon emissions trading market. More than 40 euros per ton of carbon dioxide2.
The EU has forced big polluters to compensate for their emissions by purchasing permits under this plan. In 2019, the lignite burnt in the Turów power plant was pumped 5.5 million tons of carbon dioxide2 Into the atmosphere, making it the fifth largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Poland.
At the same time, EU state aid rules limit the scope of Warsaw’s support for troubled coal-fired power plants, so the decline of power plants seems inevitable.
But this reality has not been affected in Bogatina. “I don’t know anyone who suggested closing the complex within 10 years,” Kościańska said, adding that she could hardly imagine that the mine would be closed within 15 years.
Turów’s story is not unique. Most of Poland’s energy still comes from coal, and many of its towns and regions rely on coal heavy industries that the EU climate policy will eliminate. But it illustrates a broader political dilemma.
The entire Polish society has accepted the transition from coal– 78% of Poles agree The climate crisis requires urgent action. However, many communities are concerned about the future prospects without coal. Some politicians are happy to take advantage of these fears.
Polish Prime Minister Matusz Morawiecki reluctantly signed higher emission reduction targets at the European Council meeting in December 2020, but his junior coalition partner, the Polish Solidarity (SP)— -Dismissed the new goal and publicly accused Moravitsky of “defeatism.”
Janusz Kowalski, SP’s Deputy Minister of Instigator, visited Poland and met with Turov and other local miners’ unions, promising to fight the EU’s green plan. Kowalski lost his ministerial position in February, but this did not end tensions within the government. According to Tomaszewski, as the government faces a series of unpopular decisions, from closing mines to announcing higher energy prices due to rising emissions costs, the divergence will only grow. “The green transition is a perfect problem that can be weaponized by populists,” he said.
The SP only controls 19 seats in the lower house of the Polish parliament, but the influence of these members of parliament far exceeds their weight. They know that withdrawing from the alliance will deprive the Morawiecki government of the majority of seats. This in turn will force the Prime Minister’s Law and Justice Party to seek allies among opposition MPs or face early elections.
At the same time, the government cannot just succumb to SP’s requirements and completely abandon its green promise. Poland will receive more than 139 billion euros from the EU in exchange for emission reductions in the next seven years.carbon dioxide2 price will continue Regardless of the decision made by Warsaw, it will drive coal out of the market.
At the same time, Poland’s neighboring countries are increasingly putting pressure on Turuf. The German town of Zittau, which borders the mining area, filed its complaint with the European Commission in January.A kind Learn Commissioned by the German branch of Greenpeace, the continuous operation of the mine threatens groundwater depletion, air and water pollution, and subsidence.
Anna Cavazzini, a member of the German Ministry of Environmental Protection, called on the Berlin government to support the Czech lawsuit on the grounds that the impact on community life in Saxony was “disastrous”.
The Morawiecki government is in a dilemma and is likely to put Poland’s energy transition decision to a secondary position. This method makes people in Turów and other places more vulnerable. Activists say that when the time finally comes when coal is completely abandoned, locals are not ready yet. For an anti-green party like SP, it may be time to shine.
