The open letter sent by twenty interest groups from various sectors to the Flemish government on Wednesday went the wrong way at a large number of local businesses. It seems that “people speak for us without any advice”.
On Wednesday, VOKA, the construction union, published Comeas and Agoria, among others, in a open letter A clear appeal to the Flemish government. In the letter, the organizations urged Minister Saturn Demir (N-VA) to urgently deal with the issue around Ventilus, the new high-voltage interface that must, among other things, bring wind power ashore from the sea. The signatories ask the Minister to make a quick decision and make clear that the overhead connection of the new high voltage lines is the desired option. Despite the growing protest in West Flanders against it.
At Ondernemersplatform, a local organization that now has about eighty companies from Jabbeke through Izegem to Wevelgem, it is clear that the open letter from the sector organizations has gone in the wrong direction. In their own open letter, they accused the trade unions of speaking out. “People are calling for a quick, above-ground construction of Ventilus from the business world, but we Is this the corporate world? “We’re the ones who come from Ventilus and we don’t agree with that,” says entrepreneur and platform spokeswoman Sofie Vandenbriele.
She asserts that many of the companies from the platform are members of interest groups. “We get put in our mouths, but we are not consulted by those organizations ourselves. So we are moving away from the letter,” it seems.
The fact that the letter calls for financial compensation to everyone who may be disadvantaged by a new high-voltage connection is also a bridge too far for the Ondernemersplatform. We don’t want financial compensation for our health, our families, our employees and therefore the citizens around us as well. We do not want financial compensation for the destruction of our current living environment and nature. Nothing beats our current health, work and living environment,” Vandenbriel says.
