During the meeting, the head of the Ministry of Climate and Environment noted that we can no longer remain passive to the situation that continues in Ukraine.

"We must be ready for the need to support the Ukrainian energy system - thus the need to operate as many units as possible in Poland so that we can assist the European energy system. In the current situation, these units should also include coal units, but we should not be overcharged for wanting to stand in solidarity with our neighbors and support them," she explained.

The Minister of Climate and Environment Anna Moskwa also pointed out that the current market and geopolitical situation very clearly exposes the flaws in the EU ETS system.

"The situation surrounding the invasion in Ukraine could lead to an even more severe energy price crisis. In this situation, we must go further in our actions than the proposals contained in the toolbox presented by the European Commission," she said.

"We call for the suspension of the ETS until energy prices normalize and the crisis is over," Minister Moskwa added.

The issue of Nord Stream 2 and Gazprom was also raised at the emergency meeting of the EU Energy Council. Poland is calling for proceedings to be brought against Gazprom as soon as possible to punish the company for its unmarketable actions.

"We have repeatedly asked Brussels for immediate proceedings against Gazprom, in order to punish the company for its out-of-market actions. Today I think we all understand that such steps must be taken urgently, without waiting for another report," said Minister Anna Moskwa.

"We call for immediate sanctions on Russia, including finally ending the Nord Stream 2 and Nord Stream 1 projects and moving away from buying hydrocarbons from Russia - oil, gas and coal," she added.

As the head of the Ministry of Climate and Environment stressed, it is necessary to prepare a long-term strategy to find sources of gas used in the EU that are not related to Russia.

"Funding of LNG projects and gas infrastructure responsible for distribution of gas from terminals and infrastructure for diversification of gas supply sources to non-Russian ones should be restored immediately," Minister Moskwa pointed out.

"We also need to rethink the taxonomy approach so that it does not cut off funding for essential gas investments that serve to diversify supply sources and those that allow for a long-term shift away from the use of imported raw materials," she added.

Minister Anna Moskwa declared that Poland would support any actions and proposals that could help our neighbors in this difficult situation.

"Poland strongly supports the supply of fuel to Ukraine. We are also ready to take care of Ukraine's energy security during the ongoing war," she concluded.

The head of the Ministry of Climate and Environment also touched upon the nuclear power situation in Ukraine.

"We call for special attention also to the issue of aggression against nuclear power plants in Ukraine. We propose coordinated and decisive actions, including the creation of a group to monitor the situation around nuclear power plants," Minister Anna Moskwa noted.

A joint statement of Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia was also adopted during the meeting of the Council. The countries of our region agreed that the EU must urgently support Ukraine in the supply of energy sources and materials for the restoration of energy, gas and oil infrastructure, as well as systems necessary to support the safe operation of the nuclear sector in Ukraine.