Belgium: New government, new nuclear policy?

11 June 2007

[Financial Times, 8 June; Bloomberg, Reuters, 11 June] Belgianprime minister Guy Verhofstadt's governing Liberals and their Socialistpartners suffered big losses in the country's general election on 10June. Flanders premier Yves Leterme's Christian Democrats won eightmore seats in parliament, giving the party 30 of the 150 seats, morethan any other party. The Flemish Christian Democrats, together withits French-speaking sister party, must now form a stable coalition withat least one other group, a process that could take several months.Verhofstadt, who recently warned that Belgium may not meet its target of 2015 to start shutting down its nuclear power reactors, will stay on as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed. Whilethe Flemish Socialists have renewed their call for the reactors toclose on time, the Flanders Christian Democrat party has said that itis unrealistic to phase out Belgium's nuclear power industry atpresent. A January 2003 act prohibited the building of new nuclearpower plants and limited the operating lives of existing ones to 40years. However, this can be overridden by a recommendation from theelectricity and gas regulator (CREG) if Belgium's security of supply isthreatened.

Further information

WNA's Nuclear Power in Belgium information paper

WNN: Belgian nuclear phase-out "not that easy"

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