Gov't has ways to counter presidential veto on windmill bill - Tusk
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said that government regulations could allow the cabinet to work around President Karol Nawrocki's veto of the so-called windmill bill, making it "not very effective."
"I have good news for Poles and bad news for the president," Tusk said at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday. "Mr President, I have information that the wind farms will be built, and we've found ways to intensify our actions under the regulation."
The statement came on the heels of Nawrocki's veto of the bill aimed to loosen rules on the construction of new wind turbines on land and cut the allowed distance between new turbines and residential buildings by 200 metres. The legislation would also have capped the energy costs for households at net PLN 500 (EUR 117) per MWh until the end of 2025 and would have partially lifted the "10H rule," which bans windmill construction at a distance less than 10 times the height of a wind turbine.
Tusk said the cabinet is pushing "not because we are fans of windmills" but due to the low cost of windmill-produced energy and because this power source is the fastest to implement.
"The veto will not be very effective. Maybe Mr. President won't be satisfied with this, but I will," Tusk said.
Shortly after the announcement, Minister of Climate and Environment, Paulina Hennig-Kloska, said that despite the presidential veto, the government will continue supporting the renewable energy sources (OZE).
"We are building the Government Strategy of OZE Development, based on already-agreed investments in offshore windmills," she wrote on X, adding that the solution would double the power of wind energy over the next five years.(PAP)
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