Polish Deputy Prime Minister Zbigniew Ziobro accused the European Union on Monday of “ideological blockade” of Polish mines and defended the increase in energy produced from coal.
During a press conference in Lodz, in the center of the country, Ziobro said that the increase in energy prices is due not only to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but, “above all, the crazy and irrational policy of the European Union” (EU), in terms of the environment.
In addition to calling for “increasing coal extraction and taking strategic measures that allow the use of this Polish gold”, the Polish deputy prime minister directly accused Brussels of “promoting a policy of blocking investments in coal” because, he said, “Poland is the richest country in reserves” of this fossil fuel.
The Polish Court of Accounts published a report last week in which highlighted “serious irregularities” in the construction project and subsequent abandonment of what would be the largest coal-fired power plant in the country, known as Ostroleka C.
According to the institution, the Government spent more than 325 million euros on the design, construction and demolition of the plant, whose financing and feasibility proved impossible, but, in the words of an executive quoted in the report, the project “was necessary to calm feelings” in the Silesia region in the south.
This region has the largest number of coal mines and most of the 170,000 Polish miners work in Silesiawhich also has the most polluted air in Europe.
Poland gets around 70% of its electricity from coal, making it the most dependent EU member state on this energy front.
Source: Observadora
