Poland has found itself in a tragic situation due to the climate policy of the European Union. Polish officials accuse Russia and Germany of collusion.
Janusz Kowalski, a member of the United Poland party (Solidarna Polska), chairman of the parliamentary group on energy sovereignty, said in an interview with naszdziennik. pl that further implementation of the Brussels-based carbon trading system would lead to higher energy prices for all Polish consumers.
The MP explained that electricity that Poland currently produces was the cheapest in Europe owing to its own coal reserves. The cost to produce one megawatt-hour in Poland amounts to 120-140 zlotys (30 euros). However, for every megawatt-hour, Poland pays a tax per tonne of CO2 emissions. Five years ago, the tax was 4-5 euros, but today, the country pays the EU a "speculative tribute" of 54-55 euros, which raises the price of Polish electricity up to 78 euros per megawatt-hour.
"It is only at this price that the PGE (Polish Energy Group. — Ed.) can sell its energy. At the moment it is becoming one of the most expensive in Europe," Janusz Kowalski said.
According to him, under such conditions it becomes unprofitable for Poland to produce electricity, and it is cheaper to buy it from Sweden and Germany. Therefore, Polish mines and power plants will be abandoned, and the unemployment rate in the country will climb. The heating power for the Poles is expected to gain 10-20 percent to its current price already this, and Polish pensioners, who currently pay 100 zlotys for heat, will not be able to pay 200, because "they live on the brink of poverty."
"We have to realize this. They (the pensioners) will have to give up on medicines or food. If a local public hospital pays 10,000 zlotys a month, the rise in spending up to 7,000 or 10,000 zlotys will be a disaster for it. The social crisis that will affect all of us will be overwhelming. I am afraid that such a state of affairs will force people to take to the streets and those will not be peaceful protest actions," the MP said, adding that the first protest action of miners and power engineers will take place on June 9.
In total, Poland will spend about 3.5 billion euros from the budget annually on the purchase of carbon quotas, if no changes are coming. In addition, according to Janusz Kowalski, Poland will be forced to switch from coal to natural gas.
The consumption of natural gas in Poland (if the EU implements its policy) will increase from the current 20 billion cubic meters to 35-40 billion cubic meters in 10-15 years. This means that there will be a sharp increase in demand for gas and it will be supplied by Nord Stream 2, the MP noted.
"The European Union is robbing us … The EU's climate policy will deprive Poland of its sovereignty completely, because gas will have to replace coal," he added.
"Russia wants to make us dependent on its gas, and Germany — on technology (windmills). Its economy will become increasingly competitive, because they (the Germans) will not only produce energy that is cheaper than ours, but we will also finance them by buying energy from them. And they will sell it to us if they want. The situation is already tragic today," concluded Janusz Kowalski. He suggested fighting Germany by defending nuclear energy at least.
The decisions, about which Kowalski spoke, were made in the EU in December 2019 as part of the European Green Deal. The goal of the project is to make the EU economy "climate neutral" by 2050. Among other things, it is planned to introduce a carbon tax on imports to EU countries.
The draft law on the subject is still in the works, and the technology to calculate the tax is still unknown. The calculation is believed to be based on the carbon footprint of the production of imported goods.
Meanwhile, renewable energy sources will never replace energy obtained from coal, natural gas or nuclear power. Renewable energy sources are weather dependent and produce energy only a third of a day in a year. It is impossible to equate renewable energy sources with stable and reliable sources of energy. It is impossible to generate energy with the help of photovoltaic cells at night. Windmills are useless unless the wind blows. Energy storage devices do not exist.