Poland will try to overturn the EU’s combustion engine phaseout and other climate laws with an appeal before the bloc’s top court, Climate Minister Anna Moskwa said, according to Politico.
In spring, the bloc passed a law effectively banning the sale of new cars powered by fossil fuels from 2035, despite opposition from Warsaw.
Moskwa told Poland’s Radio Zet on Monday that the country would take the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
“The solution of banning combustion cars in 2035 is harmful to all European economies … I believe that if today we are making a decision for 2035, then today it is necessary to look at its consequences for the following years,” she said.
“There is no analysis of the social and economic impact, which is scandalous,” Moskwa added. “Anyway, we are going to the Court of Justice in the near future with this decision.”
The legislation, opposed by Warsaw, is part of a larger set of bills designed to cut the EU’s emissions by 55 percent this decade.
Moskwa suggested that Poland could appeal against other parts of this so-called Fit for 55 package as well: “We are going to the Court of Justice with this and many other Fit For 55 documents.”
Poland was part of a coalition of countries led by Germany that sought to block the 2035 clean car sales mandate from entering into law earlier this year.
But while Berlin was focused on securing a commitment from the Commission to draft a legal workaround for e-fuels, a synthetic alternative to petrol and diesel, Warsaw wanted to avoid an outright ban on sales of polluting vehicles.
In the end, the Commission agreed to Germany’s demands and the law passed, with only Poland voting against.
One Polish diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his government was displeased with what they saw as Green Deal chief Frans Timmermans’ failure to engage with Warsaw’s opposition during a March meeting in Strasbourg of transport ministers skeptical of the car ban. A Commission spokesperson declined to comment on the record.
A Commission official, who was granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said: “Let them try … and on top of that, I think all of Europe is looking forward to a Poland that’s willing to respect the judgments of the European Court of Justice.”