By Canadian Press

Poland, Czech governments sign deal on lignite mine

Feb 3, 2022 | 6:28 AM

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The prime ministers of Poland and the Czech Republic say they have signed an agreement settling a long-running dispute over a lignite mine on the border of the two countries.

Polish Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the agreement means that the Turow open-pit mine and the adjacent Turow power plant, that is fueled by the mine, will continue to operate without obstacles.

Last year the Czech Republic took the dispute to The European Court of Justice, arguing that Poland had ignored its protests and the mine was draining water from Czech villages and causing other environmental harm.

Morawiecki and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, speaking at a joint news conference in Prague on Thursday, said the agreement was a “success” that allows the neighbors to return to good relations.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) —

The Czech government said Thursday it has a draft agreement with Poland to end months of costly stalemate over a Polish lignite mine that Prague says is harmful to the border area environment.

Government spokesman Vaclav Smolka said the government has approved a draft deal about the Turow mine, in southwestern Poland, close to the Czech and German borders.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told the local CTK news agency he was meeting with his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, who is in Prague, and “we’ll be fine tuning the final details.”

Last year Prague took the dispute to The European Court of Justice, arguing that Poland had ignored its protests and the mine was draining water from Czech villages and causing other environmental harm. It ordered Poland to close the colliery pending a decision and imposed a fine of 500,000 euros for each day it continues to operate.

On Thursday, a court official, the advocate general, said that Poland infringed European Union law with a decision to grant the Turow mine a six-year license extension without carrying out an environmental impact study.

The opinion was issued as part of the court’s procedure ahead of a verdict, expected later this year.

Poland is refusing to pay the fine and says it cannot close the mine, which supplies a power plant that generates almost 9% of the nation’s energy.

In the legal opinion for the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice, Advocate General Priit Pikamäe said mining activities carried out “over a surface area similar to that of the Turow mine present, by their nature, a risk of notable environmental effects and must necessarily be subject to an assessment.”

While the European Court of Justice is not bound to follow the advocate general’s opinion, it generally does.

The EU earlier this month started the process to deduct millions of euros from payments to Poland in order to cover fines imposed on Warsaw for ignoring the court injunction. The first payment amounts to 15 million euros ($17 million) plus 30,000 euros in interest.

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Petrequin reported from Brussels. Karel Janicek in Prague contributed.

Monika Scislowska And Samuel Petrequin, The Associated Press