Geert Bourgeois after Brexit: “Not less, but more cooperation necessary in and around the North Sea”

According to MEP Geert Bourgeois, the von der Leyen Commission is making a capital error in stopping cooperation with the United Kingdom in the framework of the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC).

Capital error

According to Geert Bourgeois, the European Commission doesn’t have the competence to stop this cooperation in the first place. “But secondly, this is a capital error. The 21st century will be the century of the ocean. It’s in fact more cooperation that we need in and around the North Sea, not less. Think, for example, of the promising sector of the blue economy in which we need to work together more intensively.”

Offshore networks in the North Sea

The NSEC supports and facilitates the development of offshore networks in the North Sea and the great potential for renewable energy in the North Sea area. It concerns a unique cooperation agreement between Belgium, the UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The European Commission forms part of the cooperation agreement. For the ministerial meetings, there is a co-presidency between the Commission and one of the states, and the secretary-general of the Benelux supports its operation.

European Commission competent or not?

According to the Commission, the cooperation is a “body” of the EU, as a result of which the UK can no longer be invited to take part. According to a number of member states that is not the case; rather, it is an intergovernmental cooperation initiative. It is thus extremely unclear whether the Commission actually has the competence to bring an end to the membership of the UK.

“In view of the importance of the cooperation in and around the North Sea, certainly in terms of energy, I advocate that the UK should be able to continue to take part,” says Geert Bourgeois.