Belgium could bypass strict European Union deficit limits to finance nuclear investments, opening a fresh financial opportunity for the Federal Government to nationalise its domestic reactors, L'Echo reports.
Investments in nuclear power plants qualify for fiscal exemptions under the new EU Stability and Growth Pact, according to European Commission guidelines released on Tuesday.
The announcement comes as Belgian negotiators are assessing the feasibility of nationalising nuclear assets across the country, currently owned by the French energy giant Engie.
The proposed state takeover, known as Project Aurora, seeks to regain public control over Belgium's core electricity supply, amounting to up to 50%.
Decades of tension over a nuclear phaseout, originally planned for 2025, alongside lifetime extensions pushed Belgian authorities toward full ownership, driven largely by unease over critical national infrastructure remaining in the hands of a foreign, French-headquartered corporation.
Under the revised rules, EU Member States can activate a national clause to shield fossil-fuel reduction measures from budget penalty thresholds. The Commission introduced the flexibility following energy market turmoil sparked by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The relief has strict parameters: spending is capped at 0.3% of GDP annually, with a cumulative ceiling of 0.6% between 2026 and 2028. For Belgium, the opens a window roughly equal to €4 billion in temporary borrowing space.
However, after 2028, any accumulated deficits under the clause will require mandatory normalisation of the fiscal situation, which can prove problematic for Belgium. The country already spends vastly more than it collects with a budget shortfall of 5.4% of its GDP recorded last year.
Whether the government will tap into this mechanism remains uncertain. "It would be premature at this stage to confirm any use of this clause, or to state whether the planned caps would be sufficient for the operation," the office of Federal Energy Minister Mathieu Bihet (MR) told L'Echo.
Federal officials are also weighing priorities in choosing renewable expansion, electrical grid reinforcement or even consumer energy subsidies instead.
