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.
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.
De Wever also criticized costly plans to build offshore “energy islands” — spearheaded under former Prime Minister Alexander De Croo’s administration — calling them “daydreaming” projects that could lead to energy shortages. He noted, however, that he remains obligated to follow through on plans already approved, according to the outlet.
De Wever’s candid remarks come just weeks after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz admitted that the country’s nuclear phase-out was a “serious strategic mistake.”
“To have acceptable market prices for energy production again, we would have to permanently subsidise energy prices from the federal budget,” Merz told business leaders on Jan. 14, adding, “We can’t do this in the long run.”
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