Divorce after hundreds of years of marriage: Prospects for coal mining in the Czech Republic with regard to the European Union

Since 2015, the Government of the Czech Republic has adopted some decisions that have altered the prospects for coal mining. In 2015 it adjusted its mineral and energy policy by allowing for lignite to be mined in a part of the North Bohemian Basin that was blocked by a political decision driven by the environmental reasons in 1991. An updated state energy policy came into force in 2015, and the government approved a new Mineral Policy of the Czech Republic in 2017. Based on these new data, it is possible to compare the coal mining concept, energy mix, and energy dependence in the Czech Republic with selected EU Member States, specifically Poland and Germany. The analysis shows that the prospects for coal use in the European Union are not only influenced by the amount of coal production in the EU Member States but also by the amount of coal imported to individual EU countries. It is also anticipated that the future of European coal production will not only be determined by geological, mining technology and economic criteria but rather by the increasingly important role of political decisions.