The first months after the Polish elections show that the new government will postpone important decisions about mining in Poland. Renewable energy may pay the price for this delay. Michal Olszewski takes a look. Prime Minister Beata Szydło has an inscrutable face and a calm, almost absent smile, which she also wears when she speaks to the miners. They’d like to know what the future of Polish coal mining will look like. Or, to put it another way, they’d like binding assurances about this future to be outlined in clear colours. And such assurances were given. On February 22, the prime minister stated that coal would remain a pillar of Poland’s energy mix, and that changes in the mining industry, though necessary, would be ‘rational’. We can therefore presume that the government will do everything to put off addressing the thorny old question of mining in Poland. This strategy works on the social level, but it is fatal in terms of the power industry and economy. It makes sense because it keeps Upper Silesia calm. … Continue reading In Poland: A new government, same thorny old question