Poland and other V4 countries will block EU measures that raise energy costs, warns Tusk

Sep 11, 2026 | Business, Energy & Climate, Law, Politics

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that the Central European Visegrád Group (V4) would seek to block any European Union climate policies that push up energy prices.

Speaking after a meeting with the leaders of the other V4 countries, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Tusk said that they could not accept policies that further weakened competitiveness at a time when they were already facing high electricity costs.

In recent months, Poland and some other member states have been pushing for a softening of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), a cap-and-trade scheme launched in 2005 that makes polluters pay for carbon emissions in sectors such as power generation and heavy industry.

They have also secured a postponement of the introduction of ETS2, which will cover emissions from road transport and buildings.

“Whether we are talking about ETS1, ETS2, or other proposals, anything that brings a risk of more expensive energy for us will be blocked by us,” said Tusk on Thursday at a press conference alongside the other V4 prime ministers, as well as Ireland’s Micheál Martin.

“Poland and the V4 will not allow any changes or any proposals from European institutions or other countries that could worsen the energy situation in our countries,” he added. “Energy prices in this region, including in Poland, must fall.”

Tusk argued that high energy prices pose a threat not only to Central European economies but also to the competitiveness of the EU as a whole. “We can forget about any dreams of competing with China or the United States if our energy prices remain as they are right now,” warned Tusk.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico likewise said the V4 countries were united in their approach to the emissions trading system.

“We will be very active, and we will also engage in discussions outside the meetings of the European Council and the Council of Europe to discuss what steps to take to bring down these energy prices,” he said.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš also expressed frustration with rising energy costs. “All of us in our industrial region pay a lot of money for emissions allowances. And what did the commission tell us in 2020? That the price of this allowance in 2030 will be €26.50. Right now, it’s €80,” he said.

 

According to the Eurostat data, households in Poland paid €27.09 per 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh), including taxes and levies, for electricity in the second half of 2025. That was the 11th highest figure in the EU and below the figure of €28.96 across the bloc as a whole.

However, when adjusted for purchasing power standards (PPS), which account for differences in costs of living, Polish households faced the second-highest electricity prices in the EU, at 37.15 PPS per 100 kWh, behind only Romania (49.52 PPS) and the Czech Republic (39.16 PPS).

The effects of ETS on electricity bills has moved to the centre of political debate this year after the main opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), called for Poland to unilaterally withdraw from the system, saying it makes “Poles a cash machine for the EU’s absurd leftist climate policy”.

The opposition-aligned conservative president, Karol Nawrocki, has also twice sought to call national referendums on rejecting EU climate policies, including ETS, arguing they are too expensive. Both his efforts were rejected by the government’s majority in parliament.

While the government has rejected the idea of withdrawing from ETS – which it says would result in large, ongoing fines being levied against Poland – it has pushed for reforms to the system.

In July, the European Commission outlined proposals to soften ETS in response to pressure from countries such as Poland, allowing industries to continue emitting CO2 for longer while providing more financial support for investment in clean technologies.

Yet there are also a number of other EU member states that argue against weakening ETS, saying it would penalise those who moved early to cut emissions.

Just before the European Commission unveiled its proposal in July, Poland’s climate minister, Paulina Hennig-Kloska, said she had assembled a coalition of 10 countries calling for ETS reform and a more realistic emissions-reduction path.

They also want ETS funding mechanisms to account for national differences, including energy mixes and GDP per capita, to ensure a fairer transition for lower-income countries starting from a more challenging position.

Poland, for example, has a historical reliance on coal, which it still uses to produce around half of its electricity, helping make it one of the EU’s biggest emitters.

However, the country has made significant progress in expanding renewables in recent years, particularly solar and onshore wind.

In 2025, renewables accounted for just over 29% of Poland’s electricity generation, almost three times the share recorded a decade earlier. Further progress is expected this year, after Poland began to generate electricity from offshore wind farms for the first time.

Under a national energy and climate plan approved by the current government in June, it plans by 2040 for Poland to generate 18-21% of power from offshore wind and 22-27% from onshore wind. A further 15-16% will come from nuclear, 14-18% from solar, 7-8% from gas and 0-5% from coal.


Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Kancelaria Premiera/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

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