EU court adviser says Poland should get back EU funds withheld over Turow mine

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WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland should be able to recover funds withheld from the European Union’s regular payments to offset fines that the bloc imposed on Warsaw over its past non-compliance with a ruling of the EU Court of Justice, a court adviser said on Thursday.

The EU’s top court in 2021 imposed a daily fine of 500,000 euros ($586,500) on Poland for not stopping the operations of its Turow lignite mine and power plant on the border with the Czech Republic.

This followed a complaint from Prague that its operations were endangering water sources of residents across the border.

Poland’s previous nationalist government had refused to comply with the court ruling and the European Commission withheld 68.5 million euros from funds the EU had been due to pay Warsaw as part of regular transfers from the bloc.

In 2024, the EU General Court ruled that the EU executive had the right to withhold cash from funds assigned to Warsaw to cover the fines.

Poland’s new centrist government has asked the court to annul the ruling and the fines.

“In her opinion delivered today, Advocate General Juliane Kokott proposes that the Court of Justice uphold Poland’s appeal, set aside the judgment of the General Court and annul the Commission’s offsetting decisions,” the court said in a statement.

The Court of Justice in most cases follows the opinion of the advocate general in its rulings.

The court referenced in its statement an “amicable agreement” reached between Warsaw and Prague in 2022 under which Poland paid the Czech Republic compensation for infrastructure upgrades and other environmental safeguards in return for the Turow facility being allowed to continue operating.

It said this accord meant “the Commission wrongly offset the penalty payment against Poland’s claims against the EU budget”.

($1 = 0.8525 euros)

(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki and Anna Wlodarczak-SemczukEditing by Gareth Jones)