Mateusz Morawiecki, the former prime minister, said in an interview that his government effectively blocked the green deal, “nothing was accepted,” while Donald Tusk's government “immediately accepted everything.” Unless it's true.
On the anniversary of the inauguration of the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk – December 13, 2024 – his predecessor in this position, Mateusz Morawiecki, was a guest of Radio Vnet. In addition to the assessment of the government's year of activity, one of the topics of conversation was the relations with the European Union during the rule of the united right. Among other things, the former prime minister was asked. about the lack of funds from the National Recovery Plan (KPO; the amount of 9.4 billion euros was transferred to Poland on Tuesday, December 17 – ed.) and the European Green Deal, that is, the program proposed by the European Commission at a meeting. when Morawiecki was the head of the government.
The former prime minister recalled that in December 2019, “rules and conclusions for the first time in the history of the European Union included an exception for a country” and this “is an exception that says Poland is not subject to it.” He continued: “Then (Frans) Timmermans (…) and (Ursula) von der Leyen created 14 directives of the European Union and we blocked these directives, appealed, counter we voted There was no possibility of a veto because there was no unanimity. they just switched it to a majority voting mechanism and we didn't have a blocker minority, so what did we do? sand in the wheels everywhere, we applied to DOCUMENTS, which slowed down the process. Moravetsky asked and immediately answered:
In the three years since Timmermans and von der Leyen proposed the Green Deal guidelines, nothing has been adopted. We banned it very effectively. Just as the Polish government, the PiS government, completed its mission a year ago, the Tusk government accepted everything immediately. In fact, it also adopted ETS2. Which we have successfully closed till the end.
Contrary to the words of Mateusz Morawiecki, the members of his government “did not block that effectively”, because most of the above-mentioned directives were adopted while Morawiecki was still at the head of the government.
What is the Green Deal and “Eligible for 55”?
Reminder: in 2019, the European Commission presented the general draft of its flagship project called the European Green Deal, which envisages reaching climate neutrality in the EU by 2050. This means that within 26 years, member states will emit as much carbon dioxide (CO2) as they can absorb. Therefore, reducing CO2 emissions is important in this project.
In order to implement the assumptions of the Green Deal, in July 2021, the EC proposed a set of changes in regulations called “Fight for 55”, which aimed to reduce CO2 emissions in the EU by 55%. until 2030 (compared to 1990). This is the first step towards climate neutrality by 2050.
Mateusz Morawiecki talked about the 14 guidelines for the Green Deal, although there are actually 13 and they refer to the Get 55 package. However, it is part of the Green Deal: you can say that these implement the rules for the general idea of the Green Deal. According to Morawiecki, his government effectively blocked the aforementioned directives, saying that for three years – from July 2021 to December 2023, when PiS left power – “nothing was adopted”. We checked.
Most of the guidelines have been adopted by December 2023
Only in December 2023 – when Mateusz Morawiecki's term as Prime Minister was due to end (December 12) – the Polish Institute of Economics, controlled by the Ministry of Finance, finished preparing the study. “The Challenge of Fit for 55. Energy Transition Goals from the Perspective of European Experts” (reference to “December 2023” appears on page 3 of this report, last published on March 13, 2024). In the first part, the authors described the “legislative and legal status of the Fit for 55 package”, stating that “as of the date of publication of the report”, 9 of the 13 guidelines have been adopted and 4. were about to be accepted.
These findings of the government research already contradicted the words of Mateusz Morawiecki, but as we checked, in December 2023 the instructions of the package “Ready for 55” were accepted by 11 out of 13 people, which even the authors of the report claimed. “Adopted” in this case means that they have gone through the entire legislative process, that is, they have been voted on by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (the council of ministers of all countries) and then published in the Official Journal. from the European Union.
In voting on these instructions in the Council of the European Union, Polish representatives were opposed in 10 cases and remained neutral once. This was not enough to ban the directives, as a majority was required to pass them, and Poland was often the only country to vote against it.
An example of the result of the vote in the EU Council on fuel on EU maritime regulation: 26 countries were “in favor”, Poland was the only one “against”.
Of the two remaining directives, one – the renewal of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) – has already been adopted by the EU Council in April 2024. However, the representative of the new Polish government refused to vote, which contradicts Morawiecki's thesis that “the Tusk government accepted everything immediately”. As in previous cases, more votes were cast in favor, so the Council of the European Union adopted the directive.
Regarding the latest document – the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD) – legislative work and negotiations are still ongoing. At the beginning of December 2024, representatives of the Hungarian presidency in the Council of the European Union announced that it is impossible to reach an agreement on this matter by the end of this year. Therefore, further negotiations will take place during the Polish presidency, which will begin on January 1, 2025.
Inaccurate and unverified information about ETS2
Although there were some guidelines in the “Is for 55” package, the document that expands the carbon emissions trading system, the so-called ETS2. So far, the system, based on the principle of “whoever emits CO2 pays”, only includes companies that generate electricity, produce and process metals, the mineral industry and the paper industry. The ETS2 directive extends this to road transport, shipping and construction, including heating homes and apartments with fossil fuels, which is expected to come into force in 2027 or 2028.
MORE ON KONKRET24: “New heating tax”? We explain what is happening
Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wnet Radio that Donald Tusk's government has adopted ETS2, “which we effectively closed until the end”. On the same day – December 13, 2024 – PiS MP Dominik Tarczynski wrote on the website about its withdrawal.
However, as we have already shown, the ETS2 directive was adopted by the Council of the European Union, despite the opposition of Poland and Hungary, already in April 2023, that is, during the time of the previous government. A month later it was published in the Official Journal of the European Union and is scheduled to enter into force in 2027 or 2028. Therefore, it is not true that “the Tusk government also adopted ETS2”.
Referring to the entry of Dominik Tarczynski, the previous government actually appealed against this directive to the CJEU, but it did not stop its implementation. Information about plans to withdraw the complaint was informally reported on February 2, 2024 by Reuters. However, the journalists emphasized that they rely on the reports of their sources and have not received any official comments from the Polish government. However, on the same day, European Affairs Minister Adam Slapka said on Polish radio that the decision to withdraw the complaints had already been made, explaining that “all these complaints are under analysis.” We asked the Ministry of Climate and Environment if the Polish government has already withdrawn the complaint about the ETS2 directive, but we have not received a reply by the time of publication.
In short, Mateusz Morawiecki's thesis that his government has effectively “blocked” the Green Deal directives, with “nothing passed” for three years, is wrong. By December 2023, despite opposition from the Polish government, 11 of the 13 directives had been adopted, including the ETS2 directive, which Morawiecki said had been “accepted” by the current government. It is also not true that “the Tusk government approved everything immediately”, because in the only vote on one directive from this list, the representative of the current government abstained from voting. However, as during the PiS government, this did not prevent the adoption of the directive.
Main photo source: Paweł Supernak/PAP
