On Friday, the Court of Justice of the European Union ordered Poland to immediately suspend mining in the Turów lignite opencast mine owned by PGE. The closure will last until a substantive decision is made on a complaint from the Czech Republic that the Turów mine harms border regions where the groundwater level has decreased.
The CJEU's decision is scandalous and unacceptable to the Polish side. Compliance with this decision would mean an immediate cessation of production, which is not feasible. It would have irreversible consequences. It would pose a threat to Poland's energy security and the loss of jobs by tens of thousands of people in the mine, which has a concession until 2044, and the entire energy complex and subsidiaries. It would also represent a tremendous financial loss of PLN 13.5 billion and the exclusion of the whole region in many of its aspects, as well as an ecological disaster - said Czerwińska.
Many politicians believe that there is a solid relation to the president's Biden decision to waive sanctions on the Russian gas pipeline company giving German Chancellor Angela Merkel and handing Russian President Vladimir Putin a geopolitical win. Because the Turów mine and power plant produce 10% of Poland's electricity, Germany uses the EU to force Poland to buy Russian gas to replace the loss.
