N-VA chairman Bart De Wever believes that Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Green) should be removed from the file on the extension of nuclear power plants. “She negotiates with Engie to fail.” As chairman of the largest opposition party, he even offered a change majority in The news from VTM.
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In recent days, the discussion about nuclear energy has flared up again. The French energy company Engie, which operates the nuclear power stations in our country through Electrabel, has announced that Prime Minister Alexander De Croo asked in a letter that Belgium is co-investing in the extension of the latest nuclear reactors and is also taking up the bill for the decommissioning of the other nuclear power stations.
De Croo and Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten have been negotiating – since the government decided in mid-March to keep Doel 4 and Tihange 3 open for ten years longer – with Engie about the conditions for this extension.
According to N-VA chairman Bart De Wever, the Vivaldi government has handled the file completely wrong. He especially points the finger at Van der Straeten and the Greens. He repeats on VTM the position that N-VA already expressed earlier this week and adds a sneer: ‘I would like to join the participation and get our power stations back into my own hands. But then you have to extend the nuclear power plants for a realistic period (De Wever suggests a term of 20 years, ed.) and you have to negotiate to succeed. Tinne Van der Straeten negotiates to failure. That’s pretty much it.’
‘Obsession with dirty, expensive gas plants’
The N-VA chairman believes that the Green minister ‘should be removed from the file’ and that Prime Minister De Croo should take over the file. ‘It is the last chance or we will lose the power stations, with all the consequences that entails for supplies, the price for the consumer and the climate. The Greens seem obsessed with dirty, expensive gas plants. Van der Straeten does not tell the truth either. It will also take more than she says. It also counts on imports from France that will not be there. She has to get rid of the file’, says De Wever.
The N-VA chairman believes that De Croo should, if necessary, expel the Greens from the government. ‘We are prepared to supply a change majority’, says De Wever. The switch majority around the nuclear exit is a hobbyhorse of De Wever. In February, when the extension of the nuclear power plants still had to be decided, he already did same proposal† Even then he targeted the green government parties.
A government participation in the nuclear power stations to be extended is of course not without risk† By stepping into the bath, the state – in addition to being a co-owner – also becomes a co-polluter and co-payer. With this, Engie would pry open a door that was closed until now and a distribution of the burden can be directed. For a listed company such as Engie/Electrabel, this makes a big difference, especially because the ultimate cost of dismantling and salvage – currently estimated at EUR 18.1 billion by 2022 and EUR 41 billion by 2100 – has not yet been fully determined.
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