Debate contributions by Kris VAN DIJCK

Mr President, Commissioner, the EU urgently needs a merger policy based on facts and science rather than dogmas, which is now often affecting our policy. A realistic policy adapted to today's geopolitical context, with key drivers such as energy security, security and affordability. Let's be clear: Nuclear fusion is of a completely different order than nuclear fission. Nuclear fusion requires less fuel and produces less waste. That is why I call on the Commission, firstly, to stop the dismantling of the JET tokamak in Culham. It is the most efficient reactor and it is located on the European continent. He is the key to the success of the ITER in Cadarache. Secondly, I call on the Commission to encourage and fund fusion research, even wider than ITER, and to ensure a stable framework that attracts private investment. The EU must not miss the fusion train, of which we are the locomotive. I therefore call for our scientists to be able to carry out research and development on European soil. We must not let years of investment go to waste and we must no longer hold on to outdated views. Finally, let go of naivety. A robust fusion policy in addition to a repositioning of nuclear fuel for electricity production in the short term is not a choice, but a necessity.

Mr President, Minister, Commissioner. Climate change alone is not the culprit. However, the lack of attention to its impact on competitiveness, industry and transport. The cost of overregulation is enormous. Graydon calculated that 30% of our companies are threatened by the reporting obligations of the ESG criteria. European legislation is too detailed, too coercive and often incoherent. Today we are discussing the impact of the Green Deal. But wouldn't we have done it more thoroughly and in a more balanced way at first? At least let it be a lesson for the future. And that is why, Commissioner, this committee must make much better impact assessments before a legislative proposal is launched, which also carry out assessments at Member State and state level, and thirdly, take into account the cumulative impact of all that legislation. Finally, I call for policy to be based on scientific knowledge, not ideology, as in the case of nuclear energy, for example. Then you have an ally in us.

Mr President, Minister, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we all have a crushing responsibility to increase our competitiveness. The problems are known. And let's be honest: the solutions as well. We urgently need to reduce the regulatory burden with excessive reporting obligations. We have to make haste with an Industrial Deal that should already have been there together with the Green Deal. We need to invest more and better in research and development, so we need to be smarter about the EU budget. We need to complete the single market with a single capital market – which offers huge opportunities. But I also want to warn, because for me, more investment does not equate to European taxes. After all, I come from a country with no less than fifty percent government seizures. And enough is enough. Activate the money of the European saver. Let those euros pay off here in Europe. The EU should not only braindrain against it, but also the money drain, to the United States, among others. This is how we build a prosperous Europe on our own.

Mr President, Commissioner, I come from a country that does not have raw materials, but does have a brain. This is the best human capital. What applies to Flanders applies to a large extent to the whole of Europe. However, PISA results show us time and time again that the study results of our young people do not improve. On the contrary. We must therefore call on our Member States – not to replace them, but to call on and support them – to fundamentally improve the quality of our education and bring it to excellence. To achieve this, we must strive for excellence, with a focus on knowledge transfer among children and schoolchildren. We need to give teachers and educators the space to do their work: teaching. We need to use modern digital technologies in all training. We need universities to cooperate and exchange, for example with the Erasmus+ programme, across borders. We have to make technical education and art education fertilize each other. We must provide researchers and scientists in the EU with the necessary framework and infrastructure so that they do not leave. We must not allow projects in which we have invested a lot of money to bleed to death as long as there are results, as is now the case with the JET fusion reactor. Good education is the foundation for a strong Europe.

Mr President, Minister, Commissioner, our industry is not doing well: redundancies, company closures and large companies announcing that they are no longer investing in Europe. The energy cost and the multiplicity of rules are the well-known culprits. The legs of prosperity are being sawn away under our chair. I heard a call for action here. Well, here is an appeal to our European Council with a handful of concrete actions: One: reduce the regulatory burden and the reporting obligation associated with it. That doesn't cost anything. On the contrary, it relieves our companies and gives them breathing space to innovate and invest. Adopt the standard of feasibility and affordability in legislation for citizens and businesses. Strengthen our internal market, including in transport, energy and services. Ensure a level playing field within the internal market and stop easing state aid, which is detrimental to small countries. Finally: rediscover the nuclear possibilities. In addition to the existing nuclear park, new developments also offer prospects for sustainability, affordability and security. It's five to twelve.

Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I am addressing the Commission in particular. Finding an inexhaustible, nature-friendly energy source is, in my opinion, the great challenge for humanity. The JET reactor, the Joint European Torus in Culham, UK, started as a European project, is of great importance for the development of nuclear fusion. This experiment is hopeful. It is true, however, that the United Kingdom became the owner of the JET reactor after Brexit and recently decided to stop it. In this way, a lot of know-how and a lot of investments are at risk of being lost. Moreover, we risk losing essential knowledge needed for the new project we know within Europe as the ITER project in Cadarache. I would like to expressly call on the Commission to enter into urgent consultations with the United Kingdom to ensure that the JET project is not abandoned.