Such a seizure is a first in the history of the European Union. Poland had kept open the Turow mine, on the border with the Czech Republic, while European justice had ordered its closure due to pollution.
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This is a first in the history of the European Union. Faced with Poland’s refusal to comply with a European court decision, the Commission announced that it was going to deduct the fine directly from the European funds which must be allocated to it, on Tuesday 8 February.
This fine, which amounts to nearly of 15 million euros, is explained by Poland’s refusal to close the giant Turow mine, near the borders with the Czech Republic and Germany. In May 2021, the Court of Justice of the European Union had ordered the Polish government to close this mine as a matter of urgency due to harmful effects on the environment. In September, faced with the immobility of Warsaw, the court imposed a penalty of 500,000 euros per day until the closure of the mine.
Poland and the Czech Republic signed an agreement on February 3 to end their dispute over the mine, but without settling the issue with European justice. The European executive will proceed in “ten working days” the recovery of these penalties, according to a spokesperson, without further details on the European funds from which the sum will be taken.
Poland has announced that it will appeal against this levy. This fine is not linked to the justice reform carried out by Poland, which also earned it a fine of one million euros per day which it still refuses to pay.