Will West return to energy ties with Russia? Belgium minister's assessment
Photo: Mathieu Bihet, Minister of Energy of Belgium (instagram.com/matbihet)
Any talk about the West potentially restoring energy ties with Russia is "illusory." No one will act as if nothing has happened, said the Minister of Energy of Belgium, Mathieu Bihet, Politico reports.
"All this is a discussion that intellectually is prompting certain armchair discussions, but today does not seem realistic to me. This is an illusory debate, the minister stated.
Politico adds that the minister’s words confirm that the new Belgian government does not plan to change its stance on Russian energy resources. In particular, Bihet stated that Brussels plans to gradually halt the import of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG).
"We are financing the war. We have to turn off the taps," he said.
Belgium, along with France and Spain, remains one of the leading importers of Russian LNG in the European Union (EU). At the same time, the EU recently imposed a ban on the re-export of Russian LNG, meaning that once it arrives, further shipments outside the union are prohibited.
Bihet noted that he would not support a complete ban on LNG without agreeing on a unified position with neighboring countries, reiterating the previous government's call for the creation of a pan-European mechanism that would prevent the redirection of Russian gas to other EU ports.
At the same time, he believes that one partial way to reduce the EU’s energy dependence on Russia is to develop nuclear energy.
Energy resources from Russia
Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Western countries have gradually been distancing themselves from Russian energy resources. The EU, the US, and their allies have reduced imports of oil, gas, and coal from Russia by imposing sanctions and restrictions.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the European Commission plans to announce a detailed strategy for the phasing out of Russian oil and gas imports.
