Here are the two most essential projects of the Belgian recovery plan according to Thomas Dermine
Thomas Dermine (PS) was the guest of Pascal Vrebos this Sunday on RTL TVI. The Federal Secretary of State for Recovery and Strategic Investments was questioned in particular about Belgium’s recovery plan. He put forward the two projects which seemed to him the most promising within this plan for the future of the country.
Pascal Vrebos: How many billions do you have for this recovery? If we do a calculation, it would be more or less 20 billion, of which about 4.5 are European. Is this figure more or less accurate?
Thomas Dermane: Yes absolutely, and I understand that it creates a bit of confusion because there are different sources of funding. But in total, we are indeed talking about about 20 billion, of which about 25% is provided by the European Union, the rest being provided by the various governments, regional plans, the federal government, but also, and this was very important for us, by companies. Because we must create a dynamic between the private and the public for this recovery plan.
Pascal Vrebos: I want to ask you a very simple question. What are for you the two projects that seem most essential to you to do quickly in this way?
Thomas Dermane: There are more than 80 projects… if I selected two that are of interest, I would choose in relation to the energy emergency. Because of the energy emergency, we have to help purchasing power in the short term, but we have to prepare for the transition. So I would take two projects that are somewhat iconic. The first is that we are going to create an artificial island in the North Sea to continue to have in Belgium one of the largest renewable capacities with wind power at sea. And the other iconic project that I would take, c is the creation of a large hydrogen distribution network throughout the country. Because we have industries that we must keep in Belgium, and tomorrow, perhaps instead of depending on natural gas which emits CO2, they could depend on hydrogen.
Pascal Vrebos: How much does this island cost?
Thomas Dermane: It is a project of approximately 250 million. This is one of the structuring projects of the recovery plan.