Polish envoy to Prague to lose post over comments on controversial lignite mine

Poland is recalling its new ambassador to Czechia after he said the countries’ tensions are due to “a lack of empathy, understanding and desire for dialogue” from the Polish side. Miroslaw Jasinski, who started in the role on 21 December, made the remarks in connection with the Turow mine dispute in an interview with German state news outlet Deutsche Welle.

Poland has been incurring daily fines of EUR 500,000 since September for ignoring a court order that it close the Turow mine near its tri-border with Czechia and Germany. Despite the verdict of the case at the EU’s top court, which Czechia initiated, Poland continues to operate the Turow facility, which mines the highly polluting lignite, a cheap form of coal. However over two-thirds of Poland’s energy comes from coal, and Turow employs around 3,600 people and produces over 27 million tonnes of brown coal per year. 

Spokesman for Poland’s strongly nationalist PiS government, Piotr Muller, tweeted that “Extremely irresponsible statements about the Turow mine are not acceptable,” and confirmed that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has commenced recall proceedings for Jasinski. “Every Polish diplomat is obliged to look after Polish interests,” he added. 

This came a day after the EU minister for Czechia’s newly formed government criticised Poland and Hungary over breaches of the rule of law.