A request by members of parliament from the outgoing ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has resulted in the instigation of a prosecutors’ investigation of the drafting of legislation liberalizing regulations governing wind turbines.
Prosecutors will investigate the circumstances of the creation of the so-called “windmill law” project, and above all, who its actual author is.
The investigation by the public prosecutors will center on suspicions that lobbyists paid for the legislative draft to liberalize regulations governing the spread of wind turbines in Poland. The regulations are to be incorporated into legislation freezing energy prices in the first half of 2024.
According to Justice Minister Marcin Warchoł, the investigation will also look into whether there had been manipulation of the value of Orlen shares, with the energy price freeze hitting its market price hard. Orlen shares fell in value by 8 percent upon the announcement that the company would essentially be charged 15 billion złoty (€3.47 billion) to pay for the energy price freeze.
The speaker of parliament and leader of the Poland 2050 party Szymon Hołownia has criticized the move by the justice ministry calling it a “political declaration.” He doubted whether the prosecutors would find anything and suspected that the move was to reinforce in the public’s mind a feeling that a scandal had occurred.
Hołownia also announced that the legislation would now be limited to the price freeze and that a separate piece of legislation on wind farms would be introduced by the new government in the near future.
