Poland fails with lawsuits against EU climate package before the ECJ

Poland has failed in its lawsuits against central parts of the EU climate package, such as the requirements for the “phasing out of combustion engines”. The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) in Luxembourg dismissed all seven lawsuits.

Among other things, Poland wanted to take action against the stricter emissions rules for cars, the CO2 tariff, national savings targets, the expansion of the emissions trading system and greenhouse gas requirements in forestry and land use. The lawsuits were filed during the government of the national-conservative PiS party.

With the climate package "Fit for 55", the EU passed a whole series of legal acts in 2023 to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

Above all, Poland argued that it needed unanimity for the legal acts. This would have given the country a right of veto. In addition, in his view, some rules affected the well-being of the people of the Union through rising energy prices and job losses.

The ECJ rejected this. All seven contested measures were rightly adopted according to the ordinary legislative procedure. Exceptions to the principle that decisions are made by qualified majority should be interpreted narrowly, it said in a statement.

In addition to the well-being of the people, sustainable development and environmental protection are equally important goals of the EU. An EU legal act could also have negative effects for one or another member state, it was said. This was taken into account in the package, for example through compensatory measures such as the billion-dollar climate social fund.

In addition, none of the legal acts aim to restrict Member States in their choice of energy supply. In fact, six of the seven measures under attack fell under the Union's environmental policy.

A weakening of the climate rules is now being prepared in the EU. The European Parliament's Environment Committee voted in favor of easing the so-called ban on combustion engines, which would allow the car industry to continue selling new combustion engines and hybrid vehicles after 2035 without having to fear fines.