The Belgian Minister for the North Sea, Vincent Van Quickenborne, announced on Tuesday to the Belga agency that he had filed a complaint with the European Commission against a French wind farm project at sea, on the edge of its territorial waters, information later relayed by AFP.
The Belgian authorities thus criticize France for not having been heard when determining the location of the park, contrary to European rules.
The Commission, which mediated between the parties, has three months to rule on the admissibility of the complaint and the follow-up to be given.
Last July, the municipality of La Panne, the region of Flanders and the Belgian State had each filed a request before the administrative court of Lille to obtain the cancellation of the project.
A series of meetings between France and Belgium as part of the Commission's mediation have so far yielded no results, the Belgian ministry said on Tuesday.
"During this process, we found that there was not enough will on the French side to take into account the rights of the inhabitants of the Belgian coast, the port of Ostend and other stakeholders", a- he added to the Belga agency.
“Necessary to safeguard our rights”
For Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne, this complaint “is necessary to safeguard our rights”.
"It's a shame that France does not want to respond to the outstretched hand from the Belgian side," he added in his statement.
"Belgium remains constructive and wishes to find a satisfactory solution for all parties", underlined his cabinet.
The park of 46 wind turbines, which can measure up to 300 m high, should see the light of day by 2027 about ten kilometers off Dunkirk.
In its complaint, Belgium accuses the French authorities of having defined this construction zone in 2016 without any consultation, while it is located at the border.
The Belgian ministry proposed last June to move the park 5 km further out to sea, which "could solve almost all the objections raised by Belgium".
Unchanged, the project would put the wind turbines "in the airspace controlled by Belgium", which is "concerning" for the safety of traffic to and from the military base of Koksijde, had criticized last June the ministry.
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The Belgian authorities have also insisted that this wind farm could complicate possible rescue operations in this area.
This park also raises the question of the “essential interests” threatened, among which is “the blocking of the historic maritime routes between the United Kingdom and the port of Ostend”.
