Alexander De Croo, 47, a Flemish liberal, has led the Belgian government coalition, made up of seven parties, since 2020. On Monday April 24, in Ostend, it is organizing a summit of the North Sea countries with eight other states (France, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway and Luxembourg) and the European Commission.
What is the purpose of this meeting?
The primary goal is to move from announcements to action, as well as from innovation to industrialization, in terms of renewable energy. This area is now of geostrategic importance. The nine countries concerned must agree on the objectives to be achieved, standardization and interconnection processes. It is time for Europe to use all the assets linked to its size and for it to emerge, in the field of energy as well, from a purely national logic.
Did the war in Ukraine serve as an accelerator for this project?
The conflict obviously transformed energy policy into a major geopolitical issue. And, moreover, the securing of energy infrastructures has become a key subject. The crisis we experienced was caused by our dependence on fossil fuels produced by a country with which we have a fundamental disagreement. Exploiting Europe’s technological leadership is the only way to protect us against exorbitant price increases: renewables are one of our best weapons for this. In my country, which has a small maritime area and only 67 kilometers of coastline, it covered almost a quarter of consumption in February.
The energy infrastructure of the North Sea has, it seems, already been the target of Russian espionage…
Yes, and Belgium is, more generally, a central location for political and military decision-making. We are aware of this particular role. In particular, we have the project of doubling, during this legislature, the staff of our intelligence services in order to preserve all our institutions and those based here. As proof, the recent update of the alleged corruption scandal in the European Parliament by foreign States. Like other countries, we have already expelled Russian diplomats.
Ukraine is calling for more resources and the translation into action of the commitments made by the Europeans, particularly in terms of armaments. Is the European Union procrastinating so as not to show its differences?
The unity that we have displayed displeases Russia, which did everything, well before the war, to try to break it. And we can’t deny that our Ukrainian partner tends to push us to go further, which supposes that we sometimes take the time to reflect in order to align our positions. Shades between us may of course exist, but we can be proud of the action we are taking and will take over the long term. That President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling for more weapons faster is understandable. But we must constantly find the balance between its demands and our own security and strategic imperatives, which is not easy.
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