Protest action against French wind farm for De Panne

The French government wants to build a large offshore wind farm off the coast of Dunkirk. It concerns about 50 windmills that are about 300 meters high. Minister of the North Sea, Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD), has already filed a lawsuit against the project developer. Belgium also filed a complaint with the European Commission against the French government.

This morning the extreme right-wing parties Vlaams Belang and Rassemblement National took action against the wind farm. “The 46 planned windmills will be the same size as Eiffel Towers. We love to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but not on our Flemish coast,” said federal representative Wouter Vermeersch.

“These windmills are planned in the middle of a historic sailing route between Ostend and England, but will of course also affect the beautiful sea view. These megalomaniac plans also have a significant impact on our fishing and pleasure craft, which now use this fairway,” said Vermeersch. For Vlaams Belang, the wind farm is harmful to the Flemish economy: “The project therefore goes against our Flemish tourism, our Flemish maritime shipping and fishing and our Flemish interests. That is why we are stepping up the resistance.”