Poland hopes for Danish government help after Baltic gas pipeline halted over environmental fears

Warsaw says it is “counting on the goodwill of the Danish government” after an environmental permit for construction of a pipeline bringing Norwegian gas to Poland across the Baltic Sea was rescinded.

The 900-kilometre (560-mile) Baltic Pipe is seen as a vital part of Poland’s efforts to wean itself and other Central and Eastern European countries off reliance on Russian gas. It had been scheduled for completion by autumn next year, when Warsaw’s current long-term supply contract with Russia’s Gazprom ends.

However, yesterday it was revealed that the Danish Environmental and Food Appeals Board has repealed a permit for the project granted in 2019 by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It found that the EPA had not sufficiently taken account of measures to protect mice and bats from construction work.

The EPA must now conduct further studies on whether the pipeline would harm breeding grounds for the animals, which are protected under the European Habitats Directive.

Energinet, Denmark’s state-owned electricity and gas transmission operator, announced yesterday that it is “preparing a plan for a temporary shutdown of construction activities [on the Baltic Pipe] until the required permit is in place”. It assures that it is “fully committed to minimising impact to both people and nature”.

In response to this yesterday’s developments, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, Marcin Przydacz, expressed concern about the potential delay, and hope that Denmark’s government could intervene.

“Environmental protection is very important; we should comply with all regulations,” Przydacz told Polskie Radio. “But equally important is energy security, and we should weigh these two things in such a way that this project can be completed.”

“It is in the interest of Poland and the whole of Central Europe to complete this project as soon as possible, and we are counting on the goodwill of the Danish government,” he added.

Another deputy foreign minister, Paweł Jabłoński, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that work on other parts of the pipeline outside Denmark would “continue uninterrupted”.

He assured that “there are many indications that the works on the Danish section…will be suspended only temporarily, until the Danish investor meets the environmental and legal requirements”. But he noted that Poland is not a legal party to those proceedings and therefore can only “take action through diplomatic channels”.

However, Friends of the Earth expressed satisfaction that permission for the pipeline has been withdraw. “Now [it’s] time to abandon this needless gas project altogether,” tweeted the environmental NGO.

Main image credit: Lemiel/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 4.0)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.