“We need cheap energy to keep our economy and industry running. Without it, we cannot create prosperity,” said MR President Georges-Louis Bouchez before members of the Rotary Club Gavere Schelde-Leie. “We must put an end to the absurd Green Deal and the European regulations that make our fuel and our daily lives more expensive.”
Bouchez travelled to Nazareth-De Pinte on Wednesday evening. Even before he had said a word, applause broke out. The welcome at the Qubiz event hall was warm, the audience attentive. For more than three hours, the MR President gave his address, answered questions and engaged with the large crowd of East Flemings who had turned out. “I am a Fleming who speaks French,” he joked. “In our country, the divide is not between Flemings and Walloons, but between left and right.”
Bouchez explained that Europe owes its development and wealth to abundant and cheap energy. “That is how industry first emerged and grew strongly. Production created jobs and collective progress. This later gave rise to the service economy. After that came leisure activities and the building of public services. Energy and industry are therefore the foundation of our prosperity and our sovereignty.”
But since the turn of the millennium, more and more politicians have claimed that making energy more expensive and adding more regulation would speed up the energy transition. Even nuclear energy, which emits no CO₂, came under fire. This, they said, was the only way to save the planet. But this was a serious miscalculation, according to Bouchez. “The energy transition requires money, a lot of money. And that money is not available when businesses lose their competitiveness and households see their purchasing power evaporate due to rising energy bills. High energy taxes are impoverishing us, while other regions of the world are experiencing full growth thanks to cheap energy sources. It is not taxation but innovation in our industry that will protect the climate.”
Energy contracts
“If we want prices at the pump to fall again, European countries will need to help secure the Strait of Hormuz,” Bouchez said, referring to the United States' war against Iran. “We must also help Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with military equipment to defend themselves against drones and mines. Good relations with these countries are of strategic importance, not only economically, but even more so for our energy supply. We depend on fossil fuels for eighty per cent of our needs. We can therefore establish long-term energy contracts with these countries to secure our requirements.”