CD&V chairman Joachim Coens does not accept the offer of his N-VA colleague Bart De Wever to reverse the law on the nuclear exit with a variable majority. The Christian Democrats are sticking to the coalition agreement with an evaluation in November 2021, Coens says.
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Bart De Wever offers the 24 seats of N-VA in the House to reverse the law on nuclear exit. He said this in The Morning on Radio 1. He calls the federal government’s plan to stick to the nuclear exit in 2025 “disastrous”. “We are going to have the most polluting energy production in the whole of the European Union, after Poland, with a huge price increase for consumers and companies.”
According to De Wever, the four parties with which he briefly negotiated a new federal government – PS, sp.a, CD&V and cdH – were already in favor of extending the lifespan of the two most recent nuclear reactors. “The easiest negotiations I’ve ever had,” he said.
Three of those four parties have now joined a new federal government with liberals and greens. According to the N-VA chairman, they “fell from their seats because of the skill of (Minister of Energy) Tinne Van der Straeten, who knows the file very well, to maneuver quickly”.
CD&V chairman Joachim Coens emphasizes that his party is sticking to the coalition agreement, in which the nuclear exit will be confirmed in 2025, but at the same time an evaluation is foreseen in November 2021. If unforeseen problems arise, the government can fall back to a limited involvement of nuclear energy.
“The coalition agreement reaffirms the nuclear exit, which had already been decided, but at the same time provides for an evaluation moment in November 2021 about security of supply and the price. That is very important to us. The government will then make a decision. There is no reason for us to doubt that now, ”he says.
Last Thursday, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld) and Minister of Energy Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen) also announced that they would stick to that evaluation moment in November. However, according to the opposition, the emergency solution to switch on the two most recent nuclear reactors after 2025 has already been off the table to a limited extent, because operator Engie Electrabel has decided to scrap investments in that lifespan extension.
Van der Straeten emphasizes again on Saturday that she is following the coalition agreement. That is her “roadmap for a sustainable and prosperous Belgium”, she tweeted. “Lack of clarity and delay have brought us into this situation. Vision and expertise is what gets us on course. ”
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