Green MP Jean-Marc Nollet tells L’Echo Saturday that he believes our having let France take such control on the Belgian energy policy has given the neighboring country an enormous leverage on other issues. “The problem is that Electrabel is now within the hands of the French. And everything is being decided in Paris. It is Paris which determines our energy policy. And all of a sudden, we are told that we have found 1,000 additional MW from France,” Mr. Nollet says when asked about Belgium’s energy supply for the coming months.
This extra energy will be produced by EDF, and not Engie. “Who is over 80% shareholder of EDF and Engie’s largest shareholder at nearly 25%? The French State. It is France who, at a given time, will decide to — or not to — send the current. We are really dependent on Paris to avoid power cuts in Belgium,” the ecologist goes on.
“By dint of not having invested in our production park and in the transition, we have become dependent on France. And that will backfire on us. It will give France leverage on other issues,” he deducts.
As a joke, Mr. Nollet links this energy dependence on France with the issue of the Rafale planes which Paris offered to Belgian Defense to replace the F-16s.
The Brussels Times
