Our country’s critical energy infrastructure will be better protected from vandalism internal

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 pipeline between Russia and Germany last year.

Van der Straeten wants to “adopt a mindset that responds to this new reality” and has therefore introduced a bill to better protect our country’s important energy infrastructure. In concrete terms, managers will have to carry out internal and external audits to check whether safety measures are being complied with and, for example, to check the operation of surveillance cameras. If necessary, Homeland Security plans should be updated in consultation with the General Directorate of Energy, which is part of the federal public service economy.

Van der Straeten had previously been inspected for Belgian gas infrastructure in the North Sea after sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines. In addition, it has accelerated the inclusion of about thirty additional entities from the energy sector in the list of essential service providers and the entities concerned must comply with stricter cybersecurity measures.

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