Commentary
Politics
EU Should Enlarge, Even Out of Despair – COMMENTARY
3 October 2024
27 May 2021
The Turów coal mine dispute between Poland and Czechia may end up being resolved in a European court rather than through the Visegrad Group format. While the V4 facilitated discussions on sensitive issues, Central Europe is far from reaching a consensus on a common green and energy security agenda.
On Monday night of 24 May, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced a deal in negotiations with the Czech side on the so-called Turów coal mine case. Czechia had successfully argued before the EU court that continued mining activities would likely have negative effects on the groundwater of its territory.
In response, Warsaw declared to invest over 40 million euros worth of waterworks and other environmental protection installations and embraced Prague’s commitment to withdraw a court case against Poland.
However, Andrej Babiš was not present next to Mateusz Morawiecki. Instead, he organised a presser the following morning to repudiate the Polish prime minister’s statements on the previous night.