A new appeal has been launched by the Minister for Energy, Marie-Christine Marghem (MR), for “innovative” projects eligible for financing from the “energy transition fund.” The fund had been devised as a type of compensation for the extension of nuclear reactors, in the form of research and development assistance. The newspapers Le Soir and De Morgen observe on Wednesday that it does however appear, in the document published on the FPS Economy site, that one of the three “thematic areas” for potentially eligible projects relates to nuclear energy.
The daily publications observe that nuclear projects may be eligible for the fund, contrary to the minister’s assertion in 2015, when defending the creation of the fund to deputies in parliament. In particular, she had then asserted in a plenary session, “It is not a question of using...funding to encourage nuclear energy projects. Let’s be clear.”
Marie-Christine Marghem, when contacted by Le Soir, defended the document, explaining that it would be “discriminatory”, within the “bill creating such a fund,” to “exclude a given form of power generation.” She went on, “However when the government studies the proposals received, and has to approve a grant, it may very well refuse given projects...As Minister for Energy, I will oppose all projects connected to nuclear power.”
The Brussels Times
