Czechs ready to resume talks on Turow with Poland - Czech minister

The Czech environment minister said he hopes Poland and the Czech Republic will return to negotiations after the two countries had failed to reach an agreement over the Turow open-cast lignite mine located near the Czech border.

The 13th round of Polish-Czech talks concerning the Turow mine ended on Thursday evening in failure, but Richard Brabec told a press conference on Thursday night that both sides were ready to resume negotiations.

"I cannot say what will happen tomorrow or on Monday, but I want to express my conviction and hope that we will meet in the coming days and see it through," Brabec said.

The Czech government has taken Poland to Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) over the Turow mine. The Czechs claim that plans to expand it threaten the environment, especially, ground water on the Czech side of the border.

On September 21, the CJEU ordered Poland to pay a EUR 500,000 daily fine for its failure to suspend operations at the Turow mine.

Brabec said that a clause preventing the termination of any agreement should be included, adding that he did want to elaborate on the issue as he is not in the habit of communicating with the other party via the media.

The Polish deputy foreign minister Pawel Jablonski said after the unsuccessful negotiations that the Czechs side had escalated their demands and, in an "irrational" manner, insisted that such a clause be added to the agreement.

Poland has so far refused to shut down the mine as, according to the government, "as this would deprive millions of households of electricity."

The CJEU fine is to be paid until the date on which that member state complies with the provisions of a court order made on May 21, 2021, when Poland was told to shut down the mine.