Polish Energy Policy Concerning Hard Coal Mining Economy after 1989

Abstract

Energy policy is part of the national economy policy of each government. Assurance of national energy security, based on the country’s own energy raw material resources and the prospects of their import and export belong to the essential tasks of energy policy. Hard coal was and has been the most important energy raw material for Poland, and this paper is devoted to that topic. In 1990–2009, five documents entitled “Assumptions of the Polish Energy Policy” or “Assumptions of the Energy Policy of Poland...,” with references to particular years, were drafted together with the “Evaluation of the Implementation and Revisions of the Assumptions of the Polish Energy Policy until 2020.” After 2009, however, the Polish Parliament failed to approve any such document, although several more or less recognised prognostic documents had been prepaid, but none was ever approved or implemented. Consequently, the “Energy Policy of Poland until 2030,” approved by the Polish Parliament on 10 November 2009, is the last binding document in that area. This paper presents the evolution of the approach to coal in subsequent government documents in the recent years. Besides, drafts or bills were intentionally omitted here, as they have never been approved by the Parliament and have remained unofficial.