Mateusz Morawiecki made the declaration in a television interview on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Asked by private broadcaster Polsat News if the EU’s planned 15 percent reduction in gas demand would be voluntary or mandatory for Poland, Morawiecki replied: “We don’t want this mechanism to be mandatory because Poland has already done its bit and we must, first and foremost, look after Poland.”
EU plan
EU energy ministers on Tuesday reached a political agreement on a voluntary reduction of natural gas demand by 15 percent for this winter “to save gas in order to prepare for possible disruptions of gas supplies from Russia that is continuously using energy supplies as a weapon.”
The agreement foresees “the possibility for the Council to trigger a ‘Union Alert' on security of supply, in which case the gas demand reduction would become mandatory.”
'We absolutely favour unanimity voting'
Morawiecki said that it had not been decided yet if gas security issues would be settled by EU members through unanimity voting or a qualified-majority vote.
“On the issue of electrical energy, and the energy mix, we absolutely favour unanimity voting, so that Poland has veto rights,” he stated.
“We demand it,” he added.
'If necessary we will make a formal veto'
Asked if Poland could veto potential compulsory cuts in gas consumption, Morawiecki said: “If necessary we will make a formal veto.”
Meanwhile, Poland’s climate and energy minister said that the country had already reduced its gas consumption markedly and "a discussion of mandatory cuts is unnecessary.”
Anna Moskwa told the state-run TVP Info news channel: “I hope it will never happen ... We will absolutely not support such a (compulsory) reduction, and in the worst case, if we are outvoted, we simply won’t comply.”
Friday is day 156 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, Reuters