Government ignores courts
Poland clings to Turow mine
06/07/2023, 7:38 p.m
In the border triangle of Germany and the Czech Republic, Poland operates an open-cast mine. The ECJ and a Warsaw administrative court order the stop. But the government does not want to be interfered with when it comes to energy security. Among other things, a Saxon municipality had complained.
Poland’s government is sticking to the operation of the Turow open-cast lignite mine in the border triangle between Germany and the Czech Republic, although a court in Warsaw has ordered a halt. “We will certainly not allow this mine to be closed. We will do everything so that it (…) will function normally by 2044,” said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during a visit to the mine. No court will dictate anything to Poland when it comes to energy security.
Last week, the Warsaw administrative court decided that mining in Turow had to be stopped. The court ruled that the documents on environmental compatibility submitted by the competent Polish authority were incorrect. Among others, the city of Zittau and the environmental organization Greenpeace with their branches in the Czech Republic and Germany had complained. They saw the consequences of opencast mining for neighboring countries as insufficiently taken into account.
After meeting her Polish counterpart Anna Moskwa in Slubice, Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said that she did not want to evaluate the court’s verdict because she respected the separation of powers.
The controversial opencast mine is only a few kilometers away from Hradek nad Nisou in the Czech Republic and Zittau in Saxony. Poland had extended the license for the mine until 2044. In the Czech Republic, it is feared that continued operation could lower the groundwater level in the region and increase noise pollution for the residents of the border region. The German side also claims a lowering of the groundwater level and also refers to damage to buildings as an effect of opencast mining.
In the spring of 2021, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a temporary injunction to stop lignite mining. However, Poland did not comply. The court therefore imposed a fine of 500,000 euros into the EU budget for each day Poland failed to comply with the decision.