According to the reports, Poland has broken international law by drastically increasing logging in one of Europe’s last primeval woodlands, which is home to endangered animal species. Earlier this week, an advocate general at the European Court of Justice, issued his opinion on the Bialowieza Forest. This comes at a time of strained relations between the European Union and Poland, a member state that has repeatedly defied the EU on a number of issues and has challenged its authority. The case will be decided by the Court of Justice, which usually follows the advice of its advocates general.
Ignoring the international law, in 2016, Poland said it would triple the amount of logging allowed in the Bialowieza Forest. Last year, the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, sued in the Court of Justice to block that increase, and the court ordered Poland to halt the large-scale felling of trees until the case was resolved. As reported by a number of news outlets and the New York Times, Warsaw initially defied the court order, but in December, it reduced logging in the forest to a minimum, after the court ordered the government to begin paying 100,000 euros, about $124,000, for each day it violated the directive.
Poland has argued that it’s widely criticized logging in the primeval forest have complied with European law. It says they have been aimed at combating an invasion of bark beetles. However, Poland’s environment minister said the government would study the court’s opinion closely and respect the court’s final ruling. As reported by many news outlets in the last months, the clash over the forest is just part of a larger dispute between the conservative Polish government and EU, which has accused the governing Law and Justice Party of undermining democracy and the rule of law. The government has tightened its control of the judiciary and imposed new restrictions on speech and demonstrations.
The woodland, a United Nations World Heritage site in northeast Poland along its border with Belarus, is a relic of ancient forests, with some of the largest and oldest trees in Europe.
