Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever delivered a blistering critique of the EU’s so-called “green energy” agenda, warning that “dogmatic” climate policies are driving up energy costs. [some emphasis, links added]
Speaking at a public forum on Thursday, De Wever argued that years of misguided energy decisions have left Europe poorer, weaker, and increasingly dependent on foreign powers.
The leader of the right-wing New Flemish Alliance said Europe’s green transition has failed to deliver cheaper or more reliable power, instead shifting the advantage to China and leaving European consumers to foot “crazy bills.”
“We made our life extremely hard,” De Wever said, according to the Brussels Signal. “We’ve made dogmatic choices against nuclear energy, which was the stupidity of the century.”
De Wever, who took office in early 2025, said Europe put the cart before the horse with its energy strategy.
This approach, he said, made things “extremely complicated with environmental rules that make it impossible to provide for our own energy needs, that make it impossible to mine for rare minerals in Europe,” according to the outlet.
Although De Wever’s government has been making a return to nuclear energy, the prime minister acknowledged the country is “far from there now.”
“I had negotiations in Davos with the CEO of Engie [the energy company managing Belgium’s nuclear plants], if you talk about happy vassalage or slavery”, he said, referencing earlier remarks about Europe becoming a vassal of the U.S. “We’ve put ourselves in a very hard spot.”
Despite mounting evidence of policy failure, De Wever warned that ideological thinking still dominates EU energy decisions, according to the Brussels Signal.
“There still isn’t technological neutrality in the policy of the EU,” the prime minister said.
De Wever said the disconnect was on full display at the North Sea Summit in January, where European leaders touted large-scale offshore wind projects.
Behind closed doors, however, industry executives admitted offshore wind is expensive and unpredictable, he said. Their proposed solution was to use surplus energy to produce green hydrogen at sea.
“That sounds brilliant,” De Wever said, “but also extremely expensive.”
When the prime minister asked executives what they needed from politicians, the executives replied that Europe should create a market for green hydrogen.
“That’s when I started to feel like I was in the Soviet Union,” De Wever said, according to the outlet. “If politicians have to create markets, that usually means subsidies without end.”
“And if the artery of your economy, energy, depends entirely on subsidies, you are heading in the wrong direction,” he added.
Read rest at Daily Caller
Why are débates about the climate prohibited ? Famous Professors are canceled ? Would it be because they are telling the truth about climate change ?
A last, a leader in Europe who is willing to speak up and point out what is wrong. Hopefully more leaders will follow and support him.
I was with him until he went off the rails by talking about “green hydrogen” that I guess he was figuring to be produced by the wind turbines located in the ocean. I’ve seen how we make O2 and 2H2 from a molecule of water. We did that on the nuclear subs I served on back in the ’70s into early ‘802 but did it to create the needed oxygen while bubbling the dangerous hydrogen overboard. It’s a simple process using electricity and pure water but creating enough hydrogen and then somehow piping it to a location that would use it. Plus the fact that hydrogen is the smallest atom it is also difficult to not have much of it leaking through pipes and it is highly volatile compared to other forms of energy like natural gas, gasoline, or diesel fuel. The PM should stick to known energy sources that are reliable and available such as nuclear, natural gas, oil, and coal.