Polish Briefing: The draft amendment to the mining law to be submitted to a parliamentary committee | Gaz-System CEO became the VP of the nuclear company

What goes on in Poland on the 20th of September.

The draft amendment to the mining law to be submitted to a parliamentary committee

The draft amendment of the so-called Mining Act will go to the parliamentary committee for energy, climate and state assets. The first reading of the draft took place in the Sejm on Friday.

The draft act amending the Act on the functioning of the hard coal mining industry and certain other acts, extends the possibility of transferring mines to a restructuring company until the end of 2023, and their liquidation from budget funds by another four years – until 2027. The amendment also extends the regulations on protective measures for miners.

In the Sejm, Deputy Minister of State Assets Artur Soboń emphasized that the act is another step in the process of systemic changes in the Polish hard coal mining industry, which, thanks to the consent of the European Commission, enables assistance to the industry.
It is about both the possibility of further transfer and liquidation of mine assets by the Mine Restructuring Company (SRK) from the budget funds, and the extension of the operation of protective instruments: pre-retirement leaves for underground miners and employees of mechanical coal processing plants, as well as one-off severance payments for those employees of the mines that are being closed who choose to leave their jobs.

Gaz-System CEO became the vice president of the nuclear company

The CEO of Gaz-System Tomasz Stępień has left his post to became the vice-president of the Polish Nuclear Power Plants company (PEJ) and its acting president, as reported by the Puls Biznesu daily.

The paper also reminded about other nominations awarded to in the close circle of Piotr Naimski, the Government Plenipotentiary for Strategic Energy Infrastructure, who supervises the PEJ. That group includes Tomasz Dąbrowski, known for his role as Deputy Minister of Energy and president of the Polish Electricity Association, as well as Adam Piotrowski from Naimski’s office, Krzysztof Rogala, Vice President of PERN and Tomasz Nowacki, Director of the Nuclear Energy Department at the climate ministry. All of them joined the supervisory board of PEJ. The company still does not have a president, so Tomasz Stępień performs these duties.