Polish ambassador to Prague faces recall over comments about mine – EURACTIV.com

Poland’s new ambassador to Prague is to be recalled for criticizing his country in comments over a dispute with the Czech Republic over a coal mine, the Polish government announced on Thursday.

“Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has decided to initiate the recall procedure for the Polish Ambassador to the Czech Republic. Extremely irresponsible statements about the Turow mine are not acceptable,” Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller said on Twitter.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle, Polish Ambassador Miroslaw Jasinski said he was confident that an “amicable” solution to the dispute would be found.

But, speaking about the origins of the feud, he said it stemmed from “a lack of empathy, a lack of understanding and a lack of willingness to engage in dialogue – especially on the Polish side”.

In September 2021, the European Union’s highest court ordered Poland to pay Brussels a daily fine of 500,000 euros for failing to shut down the massive coal mine that angered the neighboring Czech Republic.

Warsaw was told by the court in May of the same year to suspend the mining of lignite – low-quality lignite – at the Turow open-pit mine after a complaint from Prague that it created a cross-border environmental risk. and breached EU law. .

But the Polish government refused to comply, arguing that doing so would put the country’s energy security “at risk” because the mine powers a power plant that provides around 7% of its electricity.

Both Germany and the Czech Republic have complained about the mine and the planned expansion, which has caused increased noise and dust in the region.

But Poland’s largest energy group, PGE, which owns both the mine and the plant, plans to mine coal at Turow until 2044.

Poland depends on coal to meet up to 80% of its energy needs, but has pledged to develop green energy sources and close its last mine by 2049, in line with emission reduction targets set by the European Union.