Environment minister warns rejecting ETS 2 would cost Czechia EU funds and bring fines

Czechia must comply with the approved European emissions trading system ETS 2, otherwise both citizens and the state could face financial penalties and lose EU funding, Environment Minister Petr Hladík (Christian Democrats) said on CNN Prima News. The new system extends carbon allowances to road transport and heating. Opposition MP Patrik Nacher from the ANO party said the future government would do everything to block ETS 2, even at the cost of fines. Hladík stressed that Czechia had already negotiated a price cap mechanism within the system and that the European Commission had promised to reflect this in its proposals. Pirate Party leader Zdeněk Hřib warned that rejecting EU rules could result in fines of hundreds of millions of crowns annually and a loss of income from existing emission schemes.