Illustration of an offshore wind turbine.

Here, off Le Croisic, in Brittany.

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Sébastien Salom Gomis / SIPA

  • An offshore wind farm project should see the light of day on the Dunkirk coast by 2027.

  • A collective denounces the location and the scale of the project.

  • Belgium, in turn, threatens to file a complaint for failure to respect its sovereignty.

Bad wind.

A maritime wind farm project off Dunkirk, in the North, is the focus of many criticisms.

The most recent come from Belgium, which complains of the non-respect of its sovereignty.

So much so that a deputy (DVG) from the North, Christian Huttin, called for a referendum and questioned the French Foreign Minister on Sunday about “emerging diplomatic tensions”.

Are we heading towards a diplomatic crisis?

To understand the issues, we need to take a step back.

In 2016, EDF Renouvelable won a call for tenders to build 46 offshore wind turbines in the North Sea by 2027. The first location extended to in front of the port of Dunkirk before the authorities put an end to “ so as not to disrupt commercial traffic, ”explains a group opposed to the project.

A Natura 2000 protected site

"The problem is that, now, it is the inhabitants who are disturbed", underlines Florent Caulier of the collective Vent Debout.

Because the second study leads the giant propellers (300 m high, the equivalent of the Eiffel Tower) to be established only 10 km from the coast, between Dunkirk and the Belgian border.

Sign our petition for a # referendum!

https://t.co/49WRin99Ax #ProtegeonsNotreLittoral # LesDDF @ prefet59 @premarmanche @P_Vergriete @JrLecerf @xavierbertrand @FNihous @christophe_p @ChristianHutin pic.twitter.com/vFYKYVCoNI

- Vent DEBOUT (@debout_vent) January 14, 2021

“It's the scale and the inconsistency of this project that bothers us,” he insists.

It risks putting a halt to the tourism development policy.

And it is setting up on a Natura 2000 protected site, which should be prohibited.

The area is, in fact, a migration crossroads for birds.

To contest this project, a petition has been launched and collects to date more than 4,000 signatures.

But it is more powerful support that the collective has just received.

Belgium has also decided to put its grain of sand in the legislative cycle by threatening an appeal to the courts, if France does not back down.

A Belgian “alternative solution”

In a letter sent to the public debate committee in December, the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, Vincent Van Quickenborne, denounces an obstacle to air traffic, the safety of maritime transport and the rescue at sea of ​​his country.

According to him, Belgium proposed "an alternative solution" on September 21.

From July 2019, the port of Ostend was already worried about no longer being able to provide a possible ferry service with Great Britain.

The public consultation, which lasted three months, ended on December 20.

The conclusions are due in February.

“We are only at the first stage of this project, which is not frozen, says one at EDF Renouvelable.

We will see what emerges from the conclusions.

"

In 2017, the planned establishment of a wind farm in Pas-de-Calais had already created tensions with a foreign country.

At the time, it was Australia that had finally won the case, preventing the turbines from being established in a place of memory of the First World War.

Lille

When a wind turbine project encroaches on a place of remembrance of the 14-18 War

Wind standing against two Belgian wind turbines

  • Society

  • Dunkirk

  • Referendum

  • Petition

  • Lille

  • Belgium

  • Wind turbine