PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) – The Czech Republic and Poland on Thursday signed a deal on a giant coal mine near the Czech and German borders to end a dispute that has caused a stand-off between Warsaw and Brussels.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki “signed an agreement” in Prague on the Turow lignite mine, the Polish prime minister’s office said on Twitter.
“We managed to push away a stone that burdened us,” Fiala said later at a press conference with Morawiecki.
The Polish leader said he hoped the Czech Republic would withdraw its complaint with the EU’s top court “today or tomorrow… and the problem will cease to exist”.
The open cast mine in southwest Poland fuels a power station providing around seven percent of Poland’s electricity needs.
Poland relies on coal to meet up to 80 percent of its energy needs, but has vowed to develop green energy sources and to shut its last mine by 2049, in line with EU emissions targets.
The Czech Republic and Germany have complained that the mine affects groundwater levels and creates too much dust and noise.
In May last year, the European Court of Justice ordered Poland’s populist government to close the Turow mine.
In September, the EU court ordered Warsaw to pay a penalty of 500,000 euros per day until the mine was closed down.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s government, which is in a series of other disputes with Brussels over the application of EU law, had refused to close the mine or to pay fines.
The European Commission issued its final warning last month for Poland to pay the fine, saying that the sum owed could be subtracted from future EU fund payments due to Poland.
Despite Thursday’s agreement, Poland still owes the EU tens of millions of euros in unpaid fines since the court order was issued.
Also on Thursday, the EU’s top court ruled that Poland had violated EU laws when it extended its consent with mining at Turow by six years without the required environmental impact assessment.
© Agence France-Presse
