Defiant Polish PM refuses to shut coal mine despite EU court fine

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has reacted defiantly after the EU's Court of Justice (CJEU) ordered the country to pay a fine of €500,000 daily for keeping open the coal mine at Turów near the Czech border, despite an earlier court ruling to halt operations.

The fine was issued following a request by the Czech Republic, which has been at odds with its northern neighbour for some time over the open-pit lignite mine that sits close to the shared border between the two countries and Germany. Prague says the mine is creating cross-border environmental problems, in particular relating to air and water pollution, and is damaging communities.

Read more: German city joins calls for enforcement of water laws over Polish mine 

Morawiecki reacted angrily to the news, describing the fine as "radically aggressive and harmful", adding that Poland would take legal steps to prove it was "disproportionate" and "arbitrary".

"We are not going to turn off Turów, it would deprive millions of Polish families of electricity," he said during a media briefing, according to the Polish Press Agency.  

The lignite mine, which has been operational for more than a century, recently expanded further towards the border with the Czech Republic.

The EU court first ordered the closure of the Turów mine in May, though Poland has not complied. In June, the Czech government requested the Luxembourg-based CJEU fine Warsaw €5 million for each day extraction continued. 

The court agreed but set the fine much lower. Judges said: "Such a measure appears necessary in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the interim measures decided upon in the order of 21 May 2021 and to deter that member state from delaying bringing its conduct into line with that order."

While the €500,000 per day fine is considerably less than that originally requested, Prague welcomed the penalty, saying that its aim was to reach an amicable agreement. 

The Czech government is likely to view the court's verdict as a form of leverage in the ongoing bilateral talks covering several issues related to the mine, including measures to limit noise and air pollution and damage to the water table. It is expected that a deal would put an end to any legal disputes.

Warsaw has said that the CJEU penalty has undermined those talks and that Turów, which employs 4,000 people in the area and fuels a power plant that supplies around 7% of Poland's energy demand, would remain operational.

Read more: Poland signs 'historic' deal to close all coal mines by 2049

In April, the Polish government announced it had reached an agreement with trade unions to phase out coal production in the country by 2049.

"The Polish government will not close the mine. From the very beginning, we were of the opinion that the suspension of the works of the mine in Turów would threaten the stability of the Polish power system," said Polish Government Spokesperson Piotr Mueller in a statement.

Some officials in Poland strongly rejected the court order. Deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski took to Twitter, saying: "The CJEU demands half a million daily fines from Poland for the fact that Poland did not leave its citizens without energy and did not close the mines overnight. 

"This is not even blackmail, it is judicial robbery and theft in broad daylight. You won't get a cent."

The court ruling comes at a time when Poland finds itself increasingly at odds with the EU, largely over the rule of law. Earlier this month, former President of the European Council and present leader of Poland's main opposition group Donald Tusk warned that the "constant undermining" of his country's membership of the European Union by the ruling Law and Justice Party could have grave consequences for its future in the bloc.

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