Poland / EU – Beyond questions relating to freedom of the press, the rule of law and “LGBT rights”, the package of twelve environmental reforms commonly referred to as “Fit for 55” (plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 of 55% compared to what they were in 1990) is likely to become a new bone of contention between Brussels and Warsaw.
“Passing the climate package is a catastrophic mistake”
Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin (PiS) is not beating around the bush. In an interview published on 11 January by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, he declared: “EU technocrats must understand that pushing the climate package is a catastrophic mistake […]
The cost [of these measures] is enormous and could reach 2.4 trillion zlotys [530 billion euros] by 2030, which is 900 billion zlotys more than the 40% emission reduction scenario. […] the total cost will be around 64,000 zlotys per Polish citizen.”
“Less ideology and more pragmatism”
The Deputy Prime Minister anticipates the effects on the Poles’ daily life: “If the current increases in electricity prices, so much felt by the Poles, cause a shock, what will happen in the coming years? After all, there is no way to calculate this.
We are aware that the rise in energy prices is one of the costs of our EU membership. But today this price is too high.
[…] Today, up to 70% of our electricity production depends on coal.
Meanwhile, the European Union does not expect us to make cosmetic changes, but a gigantic and extremely expensive revolution.
In my opinion, the cost of the climate package cannot be borne by the Poles […]. Now is the time to wake up Brussels’ elite: […] less ideology and more pragmatism and understanding of the demands that we have been making for a long time. […]
The potential EU funds will only partially cover the costs of the transformation, and let us remember that currently they are blocked by Brussels.”
