EU court orders immediate halt to Turów mine in Poland

(21 May 2021) Mining at the contested Polish open-pit mine near Turów must stop immediately, the European Court of Justice ruled on Friday (21 May) following a complaint lodged by the Czech Republic.

In doing so, the Court has granted the Czech Republic’s request for a temporary cessation of activity at the mine until the case it brought against Poland is fully resolved.

The Turów mine is located close to the Czech and German border and has been accused of draining water supplies in Czechia and risking subsidence in Germany.

The dispute has caused tensions around the border, including activist-led protests against the mine on the Czech side and anti-Czech campaigns on the Polish side.

In its ruling, the Court ordered the mine’s closure as an interim measure because it estimated that not doing so would risk causing “serious and irreparable harm to the interests of the applicant”.

“The pleas of fact and law raised by the Czech Republic justify the granting of the interim measures,” the Court said, considering that continued mining in Turów would be likely to “have negative effects on the level of groundwater in Czech territory”.

External link

, 21 May 2021: EU court orders immediate halt to Turów mine in Poland