WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The prime ministers of Poland and the Czech Republic say they have signed an agreement settling a long-running dispute over a lignite mine on the border of the two countries.

Polish Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the agreement means that the Turow open-pit mine and the adjacent Turow power plant, that is fueled by the mine, will continue to operate without obstacles.

Last year the Czech Republic took the dispute to The European Court of Justice, arguing that Poland had ignored its protests and the mine was draining water from Czech villages and causing other environmental harm.

Morawiecki and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, speaking at a joint news conference in Prague on Thursday, said the agreement was a “success” that allows the neighbors to return to good relations.

Under the agreement, Poland is to pay the Czech Republic 45 million euros compensation. Both sides will be monitoring the proper functioning of a deep barrier that Poland has built in the area to prevent water drainage on the Czech side.

The European court had ordered Poland to close the colliery pending its ruling, and has been imposing a fine of 500,000 euros for each day the mine continues to operate.

Poland has refused to pay the fine and said it could not close the mine, which supplies a power plant that generates almost 9% of the nation’s energy.

On Thursday, a court official, the advocate general, said that Poland infringed European Union law with a decision to grant the Turow mine a six-year license extension without carrying out an environmental impact study.

The opinion was issued as part of the court's procedure ahead of a verdict, which had been expected later this year.

Morawiecki said he hopes that very soon, maybe even on Thursday, Prague will withdraw the case from the European Court of Justice and the issue will be “closed” for good.

The EU earlier this month started the process to deduct millions of euros from payments to Poland in order to cover fines imposed on Warsaw for ignoring the court injunction. The first payment amounts to 15 million euros ($17 million) plus 30,000 euros in interest.

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Petrequin reported from Brussels. Karel Janicek in Prague contributed.