Poland has never supported EU's Fit for 55 climate package, says PM

Poland has never supported the EU's Fit for 55 climate law, aimed at achieving the bloc's target of reducing CO2 emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030, the prime minister has said.

Mateusz Morawicki explained that the legal package is being implemented through directives which Warsaw believes should be passed unanimously. However, the European Commission (EC) has decided they should be passed by a qualified majority, in which Poland is outvoted.

Asked at a press conference on Thursday whether Poland supported the package, Morawiecki replied that "there is an element of disinformation, manipulation, which some are introducing to the public space."

"Poland has never supported any Fit for 55 package," he continued. "This is a package that is being carried out through European directives which we believe should mostly be conducted through unanimity; they should be resolved through the principle of unanimity. However, the EC has decided that it be by a qualified majority. In this way Poland is outvoted."

The prime minister went on to say that at the December 2020 EU Council sitting, Poland had fought hard for a just energy transition, explaining that the 55-percent target the EU adopted at the time applies to the whole of the EU rather than only to certain member states.

"I always emphasise that the energy mix in different countries is different," Morawiecki said. "The starting point is very different - one size does not fit all. And in connection with that, we're conducting our policy as we should, in order for the energy transformation to be fair."

On December 10, 2020, an EU Council summit agreed the budget of the bloc and its Recovery and Resilience Facility. Under threat of vetoes by Poland and Hungary, the 27 leaders agreed earlier-negotiated conclusions defining the criteria by which a mechanism would be applied linking the payout of funds to observance of the rule of law and EU climate policy, the provisions of which are contained in the Fit for 55 package. Poland then voted in favour of the package.

In mid-April, the European Parliament adopted directives and regulations for the Fit for 55 package, intended to bring about climate neutrality by 2050. The measures were voted for by Polish opposition groupings Civic Platform, the Polish People's Party and the Left.

MEPs of the ruling Law and Justice party voted against the measures.

Referring to the results of the voting, Polish Climate Minister Anna Moskwa said: "Poland will not support at the EU Council any of the laws passed by the European Parliament."

Poland's minister for EU affairs, Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek, said of the vote that the Fit for 55 package was a very harmful proposition and that Poland would oppose it.