Open Vld and CD&V are dissatisfied with the communication of Flemish Minister of Energy Zuhal Demir (N-VA) about green certificates. Willem-Frederik Schiltz (Open Vld) and Robrecht Bothuyne (CD&V) accuse her of giving a selective lecture in her press release.
The Council of State sees no breach of contract in the minister’s plans to cut future green power certificates for large investors in solar panels. Demir communicated this yesterday in response to an advice from the Council of State.
However, the Council appears to be more critical in the advice itself. Among other things, the Council has difficulty with the threshold that was set at 200,000 euros in subsidies in three years. According to the Council, it is also difficult to substantiate that only installations from before 2013 are targeted.
“Great concern”
“What turns out? Part of the advice was not mentioned in the press release,” said Willem-Frederik Schiltz today. “The Council of State says that if you are going to intervene with the green power certificates of solar panels, you must also do the same with other renewable energy. In other words, for the Council of State it is all or nothing: either you take everything, or nothing. So, Minister, there is great anxiety. Are you going to stop or amend this decree to allay the anxiety?”
Robrecht Bothuyne of CD&V was also critical. “We had to wait hours to read the advice and unfortunately it contained different things than we were able to read in your press release. The Fernand Hutsen of this world are ready with an army of lawyers to attack this regulation. We expect a new arrangement with which you go back to the Council of State for new advice.”
Demir: “Close up”
“There is a lot of opposition, of course,” Demir responded. “Those who have major interests in this dossier are going to fight. What should I do then? I must ensure that we close the questions that the Council of State still had. That is my intention, colleague Schiltz. I already have a first advice to find out whether we can legally close it. Of course I will submit that to the Council of State. But the message is very clear: the energy bill is exploding from here to Tokyo. The money has run out. Doing nothing is not an option .”
Minister Demir (N-VA) may cut green electricity subsidies from large companies
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