“We are facing 5 to 10 difficult winters, but we also have the opportunity to leap forward 20 years by detaching ourselves from fossil fuels, despite all the difficulties,” said Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who returned on Sunday. on the program De Zevende Dag (Eén, VRT) on the current debate on energy prices and supply. The question of the extension of several nuclear reactors is never far away, even if the liberal warns against the temptation to limit the debate to this element. The federal government is in negotiations with Engie for the extension of the two newest reactors, Doel 4 and Tihange 3. It is aiming for a definitive agreement with the operator by the end of the year, to restart these reactors in November 2026 for a period of 10 years.
But several parties plead in parallel for the extension of other reactors. Like the MR, whose president Georges-Louis Bouchez repeated on the set of the program “It’s not every day on Sunday” to advocate the extension of “5 reactors, for 10 to 20 years”. The hydrogen microbubbles observed in the walls of the tanks of Doel 3 and Tihange 2 are not a valid reason to prevent an extension, insists the liberal. “They are monitored, have never evolved, and according to the AFCN (the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control, editor’s note) do not present a risk”, he indicates.
Ecolo co-president Jean-Marc Nollet, from the same environmental ranks as Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen), recalls that the question of a possible extension of Doel 3 and Tihange 2, “for a few months”, was asked to Engie. “On Doel 3, they tell us it’s not possible. On Tihange 2, they are still analyzing. There is no blockage”, he assures. The priority of environmentalists is above all to “accelerate the energy transition” (towards renewables) while protecting the population, he argues.
In the meantime, the opposition does not hesitate to fire red balls at the majority. “We have the feeling of having governments with 2 tension”, launches Maxime Prévot, president of the Committed, always on the set of “It’s not every day Sunday”. “Nearly 40% of citizens are at risk of falling into the risk of poverty. (…) It is time for the State to cap prices, we do not need to wait for Europe. Other countries l ‘did”.
“At some point, if Europe doesn’t do it, we will,” replies Thomas Dermine, Socialist Secretary of State. On the PS side, we are not afraid, for example, of “threatening to renationalise part of the energy, as France does”, he adds.
“Capping means that the State will pay for the supplement. It is only ‘assumable’ if a crisis contribution makes it possible to capture the surplus profits” from energy companies which sell their electricity at exorbitant prices, tempers Willy Borsus (MR), vice-president of the Walloon government.
As announced by the famous “codeco” energy, the idea that holds the rope to “skimme” the “surplus profits” is to extend to other sectors the contribution of distribution which already exists for four nuclear reactors.
For the liberal Borsus, “the first element” to be examined is a modification of the rules for fixing prices, at European level. “Anything that will allow upstream to lower prices”.
On Friday (9 September), a meeting of European energy ministers should already provide some clarity on a possible convergence of the 27 in this dossier.
Speaking on the mid-day newscast of the Flemish channel VTM, CD&V president Sammy Mahdi put forward the same priority (action on the price formation mechanism at European level). The Flemish Christian Democrats join, in terms of aid at the national level, the idea of a social tariff for the lower middle class, he also indicated.