The MR Council is sounding the alarm: the reverse ratchet mechanism on fuel must be activated immediately to protect consumers. Without a response, the MR will no longer be able to act as if nothing is happening and will have to act accordingly. The State cannot profit from the energy bill: any increase in revenue must be returned to citizens.
Beyond this urgent matter, Europe's eyes must be opened and strong action taken on the supply challenge: energy prices are soaring and, at this rate, the EU's long-term supply is no longer guaranteed. The MR has built its action on a clear triptych: prosperity, sovereignty, decarbonisation, and notes that the European trajectory is heading in the opposite direction. Prosperity must be the priority. This requires abundant and affordable energy, regardless of the source, while including climate objectives. Prosperity is the essential precondition for technological innovation, with decarbonisation as a beneficial consequence.
We demand a genuine wake-up call at EU level. The choices made in recent years have locked us into industrial dependency and increasingly frequent energy cost overruns. This submission is dangerous. This model must be broken and replaced with a policy of massive investment in our own industries, based on cheap and accessible energy, including through trusted partners.
Today, the EU is geopolitically exposed, its productive fabric is crumbling at speed, and it remains unable to invest seriously in industrial sectors, including decarbonisation. Overregulation, punitive taxation, structurally expensive energy and scattered, sometimes even contradictory, European objectives are simply blocking any reindustrialisation.
Yet the reindustrialisation of our strategic sectors (low-carbon energy, raw materials, digital, defence, chemicals) is a matter of survival for our sovereignty, but it is being hampered by stifling regulations and overly expensive energy. We must reopen all options for diversifying our supply, including fossil fuels, pursue an effective transition and postpone without delay the legislation that is crushing purchasing power and competitiveness (RED III transport, ETS II), so as to reassess them in light of our priority objective of reindustrialisation.
The entry into force of ETS II and RED III means a structural price of €2 per litre, i.e. between €7 and 10 billion in additional taxes on oil and gas from 2028.
The MR refuses to squeeze households and businesses without credible alternatives, at a time when electricity grids are struggling to keep up. The situation is serious and the transition will take time. During this time, we must guarantee both the standard of living of our fellow citizens and the future of our businesses. Major decisions are needed.
We are calling for a clear position from Belgium at EU level.
Abundant and affordable energy is the key to growth and well-being. Europe has forgotten this, and it is time to remember it if we do not want to sink.