“This is an indictment of the PiS government.” Paulina Hennig-Kloska defends herself against the vote

On Tuesday, the Sejm committee issued a negative opinion on the motion to dismiss Paulina Hennig-Kloska from the position of head of the Ministry of Climate. The minister called the proposal “an indictment of the PiS government”, arguing that she had corrected the “mistakes” of her predecessors, including: reducing the risk of blackouts.

At Tuesday's meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry, MPs considered a motion to express a vote of no confidence in the Minister of Climate and Environment, Paulina Hennig-Kloska. 21 MPs gave a negative opinion on the proposal, and 15 MPs gave a positive opinion. Nobody held back.

The motion to express a vote of no confidence in the Minister of Climate and Environment, Paulina Hennig-Kloska, was submitted to the Sejm on March 27 this year. It was signed by over 80 MPs, mainly from PiS and Confederation. Its authors assessed that the actions of the ministry's management so far indicate “serious competence gaps, numerous errors in the legislative process and decisions made in a chaotic manner and without a responsible analysis of social and economic consequences.”

The application indicated, among others: the lack of action to limit the negative effects of the EU climate policy on Poland or acting to the detriment of the country's energy security. In the applicants' opinion, Hennig-Kloska's activity as a minister “clearly justifies the use of this mechanism of parliamentary accountability,” it was noted in the justification. The authors of the application assessed that the actions of the ministry's management so far indicate “serious competence gaps, numerous errors in the legislative process and decisions made in a chaotic manner and without a responsible analysis of the social and economic effects.”

17 main circumstances justifying the application were listed. This includes: o lack of actions to limit the negative effects of the EU climate policy for Poland, especially in the field of the EU ETS system, the ministry's activities regarding wind energy and the way of managing the ministry.

According to the applicants, the circumstances supporting the application were:

• “acting to the detriment of energy security”,
• “chaos around the Clean Air program”, which pointed to “lack of supervision over subsidized devices and waste of public funds”,
• “negligence in preparing the energy and wood sectors” to ensure the availability of pellets for last winter,
• “activities for the windmill and renewable energy lobby”,
• “chaotic decisions and lack of a coherent forest management strategy”,
• “pushing the development of offshore wind farms.”
• “sabotage of the state by trying to base energy sovereignty on renewable energy sources”,
• “acting to the detriment of Polish industry in the name of the windmill lobby”,
• “destructive action for the coherence of government functioning in the field of energy”,
• “inappropriate actions and statements regarding aid for flood victims”,
• “support of the Chinese industry through incorrect criteria in the NaszEauto program”,
• “lack of basic substantive preparation to manage the Ministry of Climate and Environment.”

The head of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, referring to the accusation regarding climate policy on Tuesday, pointed out that the European Council approved the goal of climate neutrality by 2050 in December 2019. – Who represented Poland at the European Union summit then? Mateusz Morawiecki, prime minister during the PiS government. And when did the European Union approve reducing emissions to 55% by 2030? In 2020, Hennig-Kloska pointed out.

In turn, in response to the accusation regarding energy security, Hennig-Kloska stated that the previous government had left the Polish power system “in a pre-emergency state” at the end of 2023. – If we (predecessors, the PiS government – PAP) had not corrected our mistakes, it would already be dark in Poland today and we would have a really serious risk of blackouts. (…) Today, we could no longer maintain older coal-fired units in the system, because they would be deprived of a stable form of financing in the form of the capacity market, she added.

– This is an indictment against the rule of Law and Justice – said Hennig-Kloska.

After Hennig-Kloska lost the elections for the chairwoman of Poland 2050, there was a split in the party, as a result of which the head of the Ministry of Culture and Environment, together with a group of a dozen or so parliamentarians, left the group and established the Center parliamentary club. At the beginning of March, the establishment of the Centrum Polska association was announced, with Hennig-Kloska as its president.

Some politicians of Poland 2050 declared to vote for its cancellation. Prime Minister Tusk emphasized that the vote of no confidence in the Minister of Climate would be a test of coalition loyalty and solidarity. – If we are a coalition, we must act in solidarity and loyalty to each other. If we want to cause harm, it means we become the opposition, Tusk said.

The chairwoman of the Committee on Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry, Urszula Pasławska (PSL), informed PAP on Tuesday evening that the only MP from Poland 2050 sitting on this committee, Bożenna Hołownia, voted for the committee to give an opinion on maintaining Paulina Hennig-Kloska's position.

The motion to strip Hennig-Kloska of the position of head of the Ministry of Climate is to be voted on during the plenary session of the Sejm on Thursday. (PAP)

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