2023-10-08 13:36:00
Benoît Lutgen was the guest of the show Face à Buxant this Sunday on RTL TVI. The former president of the CDH, the party that has now become “Les Engagés”, was notably questioned about the European decision which aims to impose electric cars in 2035. Here is the response from the European deputy and mayor of Bastogne.
Martin Buxant: Question on Europe. You are the only Belgian MEP to have voted against the fact that all cars become electric in 2035. Are you not a climate skeptic?
Benoit Lutgen: I am not at all a climate skeptic. I was Minister of the Environment and the climate issue is obviously essential. Now, if we look at it in depth, 100% electric in 2035, what consequences does that have? One, right away, researchers in innovation in other fuels are going to China and the United States. Second element, 100% electric, today, we have not prepared Europe in this area, we are very dependent on China, particularly in terms of batteries. So we are somehow reinforcing Europe’s dependence. However, I fought for years to ensure that our strategic autonomy in a sector such as energy, security, food and defense in particular were obviously much stronger.
Martin Buxant: Have we put the cart before the horse?
Benoit Lutgen: Totally. In addition to that, electricity, Mr. Buxant, can sometimes, and particularly in Poland and Germany, be produced with terrible CO2 emissions, since it is notably coal-fired power plants. And then overall, above all, let’s defend nuclear power.
Martin Buxant: Are you pro-nuclear?
Benoit Lutgen: Of course. Not only pro-nuclear… so, I don’t have a bar of uranium in my teeth, but I believe that it is a solution for both decarbonization, support for the fight against global warming, but also that reduces our bill and strengthens our strategic autonomy. It’s important to be autonomous on a strategic level. For what? Because otherwise you are dependent on third countries which do not always have the same values as ours.
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