Poland has an ongoing conflict with Czechia over the extraction in the Turów lignite coal mine. In early 2021 the Czech government filed a complaint against Poland to the European Court of Justice concerning suspending the mine’s operations.
The European court ordered Poland to suspend extraction and when the Polish government refused to do so, the court imposed a €500,000 per day fine on Poland to be paid to the European Commission.
The first round of negotiations with Czech representatives took place on Sept. 24, yet a long road remains before both sides reach an agreement.
In a recent interview, Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński revealed that there had been a sudden turn during the negotiations. Prague had clearly toughened its stance on the Turów mine issue.
RMF FM radio and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily checked the opinion of Poles concerning the European Court of Justice’s decision against Poland.
United Surveys asked Poles whether Poland should adhere to the top EU court’s ruling, which orders the immediate suspension of extraction in the mine.
The majority of respondents rejected such a possibility, with 46.7 percent of Poles believing that the Turów mine should continue operating, while 38.8 percent of the surveyed were of the opposite opinion and 14.6 percent did not have an opinion.
The supporters of the Civic Platform (69 percent), Left party (65 percent) and Polish People’s Party (PSL) (58 percent) were in favor of the European Court of Justice’s ruling and believe that extraction in the mine should be suspended.
The opponents to such a solution can be found among Law and Justice (PiS) voters (76 percent were against the ruling) and the Confederation (62 percent).
The survey was carried out on a group of 1,000 people on Sept. 24 using the computer-supported phone interview method (CATI).
