The EU's top court on Thursday found Poland guilty of violating air quality laws, in the latest clash between the bloc's authorities and the rightwing government in Warsaw. The European Court of Justice urged Poland to comply "without delay" or face fines after finding it had exceeded limits for toxic fine particles for years. Brussels has repeatedly taken Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) government to task in recent years over other environmental issues as well as migration and the rule of law.
"The Court of Justice finds that Poland has infringed EU law on ambient air quality," the Luxembourg-based court said in a statement. It said that between 2007 and 2015, Poland regularly exceeded the daily limits for fine particles in the air in 35 zones and the annual limit in nine zones. The tiny particles may contain hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and dioxins that can enter the respiratory tract and the lungs.
Several hours after the ruling, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced a subsidy programme to help residents of the major coal-burning nation insulate their homes and replace old polluting furnaces with cleaner modern ones.