Polish President Renews Push for Referendum on Green Deal

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has for a second time put forward an initiative to hold a nationwide referendum on Poland's participation in the European Union's climate policy, Polish news agency PAP reports.

According to Nawrocki, the original wording of the question didn't quite work, so his chancellery has now drawn up a new, simplified version: "Do you agree that Poland should implement the European Union's climate policy?"

The head of the presidential chancellery first announced the president's intention to put this question to a referendum on Saturday. By the very next day, however, the initiative had drawn sharp criticism from Senate Deputy Speaker Magdalena Biejat, a member of the coalition Left party.

She argued that Nawrocki's plans have nothing to do with fighting climate change. "Let's not fool ourselves. President Nawrocki isn't concerned about whether we halt climate change to avoid disruptions to water and electricity supplies. In reality, the president is once again trying to push through a referendum with a single goal in mind — laying the groundwork for Poland's exit from the European Union," Biejat said, as quoted by the Wirtualna Polska news portal.

She stressed that abandoning the EU's climate policy would effectively mean leaving the bloc altogether, and that this, in her view, is precisely the direction in which President Nawrocki is steering the country.

Source: ekolist.cz