The EC issues a final warning to Poland for non-payment of fines in a coal mine case

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He found that an alert for the start of payments had been sent on 3 January within 15 days of receiving the notification.

September 2021 European Union (ES) The Court of Justice has ruled that Poland must suspend the operation of the KWB Turów coal mine and pay a fine of EUR 500 000 to Brussels every day for non-compliance with this decision.

The Czech Republic has lodged a complaint with the Czech Republic, alleging that the mines have a negative impact on the environment in the border region, where residents complain about water shortages, noise and dust.

However, Poland did not stop mining, claiming that it would cut off electricity to two million households, and insisted that the court did not have all the information on the situation. The Polish government insists that the mines provide a power plant that produces about 7% of the country’s electricity.

Germany has also complained about the mines and plans to expand them, but Poland’s largest energy group, PGE, which owns both the mines and the power plant, plans to continue producing coal in Turov until 2044.

Warsaw has also stated that it has not complained about lignite mines operating across the border in the Czech Republic and Germany in the same region.

Coal in Poland provides up to 80% of the country’s electricity needs, but Warsaw has promised to develop more environmentally friendly energy sources and close the last coal mines by 2049, in line with EU emission reduction plans.

The EC sent its first payment order to Warsaw on 10 November, demanding payment of fines of around € 15 million over a period of 45 days from 20 September to 19 October.

An EU spokesman told reporters that Brussels had never before seen a Member State refuse to pay a fine and that the debt could be deducted from future EU payments to Poland.

“Once we reach the end of the second term, the case will be taken over by our budget department and we will look at the various forthcoming payments from the EU budget to the Member State concerned,” an EU spokesman said.

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