The “five to ten difficult winters” predicted by Alexander De Croo on August 22 become a slogan over the days: “with good management, we can limit (the difficulties) to five years. With bad management it might be ten“, estimated the Prime Minister Monday in an intervention vis-a-vis the Belgian diplomats during the “Days of diplomatic contact”, in Brussels.
Much has been said regarding the German government, which announced over the weekend that it would release less than 65 billion to support household purchasing power.
In Belgium, the consultation committee “energy” hadn’t resulted in any big announcements. But the prime minister rejects a comparison that he says is misleading. “What we do in Belgium is comparable to Germany. Indexation (of salaries, etc.), we don’t talk regarding it, but it’s not free”.
“Keep your gas and your oil”
The Liberal has taken up the regrets (or reproaches?) expressed by another Liberal, Charles Michel, in recent days. “A Decisive Action” at European level “au spring (last) might have limited the contamination of the electricity market“, he asserts.
It therefore remains to wait for the initiative of the European Commission to reform the European electricity market and try to detach it from gas prices. The latter dismissed any delay on Monday, referring via her spokesperson to “the extreme complexity of the energy issue and sensitivities”.
“It should have been done earlier, and it’s a shame it took so long”says Alexander De Croo.
If the crisis is devastating (we risk “massive deindustrialization“, indicates the First), there is also a “good news”: the acceleration of a possible independence vis-à-vis Russian sources of fossil energy.
If we realize “the right steps“, the main European economies might break away from Russian gas in “the next months”, thinks the liberal. “The moment when we can say to Putin ‘keep your gas and your oil, we don’t need them anymore’, will be a great moment”.
