“Belgian Minister of Energy proposes bill to protect critical energy infrastructure against sabotage”

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s energy infrastructure has become more than ever a potential target for sabotage and attacks. Just think of the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Germany last year.

Van der Straeten wants to “adopt the mentality that responds to this new reality” and therefore submitted a bill to better protect the important energy infrastructure in our country. In concrete terms, the managers will have to have internal and external audits carried out to check whether the safety measures are being complied with and, for example, to check the operation of surveillance cameras. If necessary, the internal security plans must be updated in consultation with the Directorate-General for Energy, which is part of the Federal Public Service Economy.

Van der Straeten had previously had the Belgian gas infrastructure in the North Sea inspected following the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. In addition, it accelerated the inclusion of about thirty additional entities from the energy sector on a list of providers of essential services and the entities involved must comply with stricter cyber security measures.

Our country is connected to Norway and Great Britain by submarine gas pipelines and has an import terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Zeebrugge.