The fate of the "pearl in the crown of Polish industry" hangs in the balance

The Bogdanka coal mine in Poland, which was considered the "pearl in the crown of Polish industry," is under threat of closure.

The coal mine is located in the east of Poland in the Lublin coal basin and is geologically a continuation of the larger Lviv-Volyn coal basin (this is already the territory of Ukraine). The construction of the Bogdanka began in 1975, and now, half a century later, a protest rally of miners will take place in Lublin today, on April 8. The rally was organized by trade unions under the slogan "Let's stop the liquidation of Bogdanka and the degradation of the region!". It is expected that several thousand people will take part in the action.

The protest action was the culmination of unrest among trade unionists, miners, and residents of cities located in the Lublin coal basin. The concerns stem from the strategy of the main shareholder of Bogdanka, the state—owned energy company Enea, which introduced a new strategy in November last year. According to the document, the consumption of "black gold" should be reduced from 8.5 million tons in 2024 to 2.3 million tons in 2035. The coal plants themselves should be gradually decommissioned and "greened" by developing low-emission technologies. This "green" turn of the state-owned energy company is part of a broad trend away from fossil fuels in the countries of the European Union.

"I perceive the statements of the Polish government as arrogance and disrespect!" said Yaroslav Nemec, chairman of the miners' trade union, who was the first to start a hunger strike in January 2025.