This Sunday, May 1the PTB gathered its troops around the purchasing power and soaring energy prices. The opportunity for the party to claim to be a real left, row alongside the workers in these times of social crisis. Reproaching the government’s lack of action, the PTB pleaded in particular for freezing energy prices.
“Let’s freeze prices, let’s abolish excise duties.“Such is the measure mentioned by Raoul Hedebouw, president of the PTB, during his party’s May 1st. But concretely, how might Belgium block prices, alone, by overriding contracts with other European countries?
“It’s quite simple“, relativizes Raoul Hedebouw at the microphone of Thomas Gadisseux. “We must reverse the negative decisions of the past. In the 2000s, we were sold the liberalization of the sector as being the great panacea. This has led to the cost of electricity being calculated on the marginal cost of the last most expensive generating unit in the country.“
Previously, as the President of the PTB points out, the calculation was different. “You had an average production price and a margin which was calculated by the state.“
We must clearly disobey the European rules
According to him, if we reversed the liberalization of the energy sector, we might reduce energy prices. But can Belgium dissociate itself from other European countries and stop playing the shield in the face of rising prices? Yes, according to Raoul Hedebouw, “it is clearly necessary to disobey the European rules.“
Either way, according to him,the European Union has put everything in place so that when we pay 500 euros a month for electricity and gas, there are thousands and billions of euros that go into the pockets of the multinationals.“