Belgium files complaint against French windmill plans

Belgium has filed a complaint with the European Commission against the French plans to build a wind farm off the coast of Dunkirk, near the Belgian border. The residents of the coastal municipalities on the French border fear visual pollution, the port of Ostend is dissatisfied because the wind farm would be situated on the historic shipping routes to and from the United Kingdom.

The new French wind farm, with 46 turbines of up to 300 metres in height, would be located off the coast of Dunkirk in northern France, near the coastal towns of De Panne, Koksijde and Nieuwpoort. The park would be built in French territorial waters, but in the airspace controlled by Belgium.

The French windmill plans have been a point of frustration for some time. Belgium has been urging France to work out a solution since 2016. In cooperation with a French law firm, an alternative plan was worked out to place the windmills 5 kilometres deeper into the sea, but this did not lead to a breakthrough so far.

At the beginning of July last year, the Belgian government instituted legal proceedings before an administrative court in Lille, after the developer Eoliennes en Mer de Dunkerque (EMD) and the French grid operator RTE decided in the spring to go ahead with the project despite the Belgian objections. That case has since been referred to the French Council of State.

At the time, the case was also brought before the European Commission because our country was not heard when the location of the wind farm was being determined, despite the fact that this is required by European rules.

The Commission then started mediation talks, but to no avail, says the Belgian Minister of the North Sea Van Quickenborne. The mediation talks came to nothing because of "insufficient will on the French side to take into account the rights of Belgian coastal residents, the port of Ostend and other interested parties."

The Minister has now officially launched a complaints procedure. The European Commission has three months to study the complaint and either issue a reasoned opinion or not. After that, Belgium can lodge a complaint with the European Court of Justice.

Van Quickenborne emphasises that Belgium remains open to dialogue with France. "But this step is necessary to safeguard our rights," he says. "It is particularly unfortunate that France does not wish to accept the outstretched hand of Belgium."

© BELGA PHOTO The wadden sea at the East Frisian island Juist, Germany.