Poland will coordinate with its Visegrad Four (V4) partners to oppose EU measures that raise energy costs and strengthen their position in budget negotiations, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on September 10.

The pledge followed talks in Bratislava with the Czech, Slovak and Hungarian prime ministers and Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin. Ireland holds the EU presidency until the end of the year.

“We will block anything that exposes us to the risk of more expensive energy,” Tusk said, referring to the EU’s ETS and ETS2 emissions trading systems without identifying specific legislative proposals.

EU spending for 2028–2034 should reflect the burden borne by countries protecting the bloc’s external border and helping Ukraine, Tusk also said. 

V4 cannot independently block most EU legislation. A four-country coalition needs more than 35% of the EU population to block legislation under the Council’s standard qualified-majority rules. Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary together account for approximately 14%.

The 2023 ETS reform, which established ETS2 – which adds buildings and road transport to the existing emissions trading scheme – was adopted through the ordinary legislative procedure, requiring qualified-majority support in the Council and parliamentary approval.

V4 would need additional allies to block comparable legislation, regardless of whether all four governments opposed it.

The group has greater scope to obstruct budget decisions. The EU’s seven-year spending framework and decisions on its own resources require unanimity, allowing a single government to withhold agreement.

A threat to veto the budget could therefore strengthen V4’s position in other negotiations such as on energy.

The renewed coordination offers Warsaw a route to advance shared energy and funding interests after disputes over Russia and Ukraine strained the grouping, mainly because of the pro-Russia leadership of the former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.