Polish president says will defend coal mining industry

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KATOWICE, Poland, Dec 4, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – President Andrzej Duda on
Tuesday said he would not allow Poland’s coal mining industry to be
eliminated, as the EU member hosts the UN climate summit.

“Don’t worry. As long as I am the president of Poland, I won’t allow for
anyone to murder Polish mining,” Duda told miners in the southern town of
Brzeszcze.

Poland is one of many nations heavily reliant on coal, which along with
other fossil fuels is being fingered as a leading climate enemy at the COP24
summit.

The talks aim to flesh out the promises made in the 2015 Paris climate
accord.

Speaking in Brzeszcze, Duda pushed Poland’s own agenda regarding the summit
which ends on December 14.

“We’re there, we’re its organisers, but we’re also there to speak the truth
without taking into account political correctness, which is often driven by
foreign interests and not Polish ones,” he told the miners celebrating their
annual festival.

Poland’s economy “will continue to rely on coal. Of course, we’ll achieve
an energy mix, we’ll implement our strategy, but coal remains and will remain
in Poland,” Duda added.

On Monday, Duda had made his country’s coal argument at the talks
themselves.

“The use of a country’s own natural resources, i.e. of hard coal in the
case of Poland, and dependence on such resources for the sake of one’s own
energy security does not clash with climate protection and progress achieved
in this vein,” he said.