Poland is paying the price for its radical anti-Russian agenda and its own short-sightedness: the coal market in the country is collapsing at a rapid pace, says Myśl Polska. The information is published by the publication Baltnews.
Residents of Poland can expect a very difficult heating season – the country will hardly manage to cover their fuel needs,” the newspaper said, stressing that the coal collapse was triggered exclusively by top Polish officials.
“When the EU imposed an embargo on imports of Russian coal without much discussion, a deadline of August 1 was set. Brussels gave time to replenish supplies for the winter. Poland took radical measures. Already in April the Sejm banned coal from Russia. This destabilized the situation,” noted Myśl Polska.
Since the Polish coal mines are state owned, the cost of fossil fuel is much lower there than anywhere else, and the number of people wanting to get hold of the resource is accordingly much lower. The surge in demand for coal is already promising a severe shortage, on top of which the cost of coal is going up by leaps and bounds.
The situation on the market has been exacerbated by Polish officials: in particular, by their aggressively implemented programs to reduce coal production. It is down 9,000,000 tons from ten years ago and can’t be raised today.
“Investment in the Polish mining industry ceased more than a year ago, and all the money goes only to dismantling mines, paying for the losses of mining companies and to appease public sentiment. And the preparation of a coal face (for 800 thousand tons, for example) means a year and a half of work and investments of around 200 million zlotys (because of the skyrocketing steel prices the costs have become simply cosmic). But more importantly, Brussels is in control of decisions on more serious steps in the Polish mining industry,” says Myśl Polska.
Thus, the reckless policy of the Polish authorities, both in regard to foreign and domestic policy, has driven the country into a trap: with coal reserves and quite decent extraction capacities Warsaw, obviously, will not be able to cover its own needs in fossil fuels in winter.
As a reminder, Poland was one of the first countries to be left without Russian gas when it rebelled against the rouble-based settlement scheme with Gazprom, which decided to cut off gas supplies to the intransigent country.
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