“We are preparing drastic protest actions. We will go to Luxembourg,” Wojciech Ilnicki, chairman of KM NSZZ “Solidarność” of the Turów Lignite Mine, said during the meeting of the Presidium of the Social Dialogue Council, quoted in the online edition of Tygodnik Solidarność. This is the result of yesterday’s decision by the vice president of the CJEU.
The situation in Turów was discussed at the request of “Solidarity” chairman Piotr Duda. The information on the part of the government was provided by the Minister of Climate and Environment Michał Kurtyka and the Secretary of State, Government Plenipotentiary for Transformation of Energy Companies and Coal Mining Artur Soboń.
The additional item on the agenda is a result of yesterday’s CJEU decision imposing a financial penalty on Poland for failing to implement temporary measures and cease lignite mining at the Turów mine.
“There is tremendous tension among the mine crew and residents whose fate is tied to the entire complex. All trade unions operating there are determined to fight hard for their jobs,” Ilnicki said.
He added that there is a dramatic deterioration in public sentiment across the region.
“We will go to Luxembourg. We are also preparing fierce protest actions. AgroUnia will be able to learn from us how to make blockades,” – he concluded.
At the end of February, the Czech Republic filed a complaint against Poland on the expansion of the Turów lignite mine with the CJEU with a request for interim measures, i.e., an injunction to halt mining. In May, the CJEU ordered Poland to suspend mining until the case was resolved on its merits. When Poland did not comply with the decision, the Czech Republic requested that a penalty must be imposed on Poland. They demanded a 5 million euro daily fine.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled yesterday that Poland must pay the European Commission €500,000 a day for failing to implement interim measures and stop lignite mining at the Turów mine.