GDF-Suez: Arrogant and tight-fisted

The French energy giant GDF-Suez refuses to pay a €500 million levy that was imposed by the Belgian government in exchange for postponing the shutdown of three nuclear power plants run by Electrabel (a branch of GDF-Suez). De Morgen recalls in this regard a cutting remark made by Karel van Miert, ex-EU competition commissioner: “Belgian politicians are no match for Electrabel.” GDF-Suez CEO Gérard Mestrallet “humiliated the government with an unheard-of arrogance”, reports De Morgen. The Flemish daily explains that, given GDF-Suez’s refusal to pay up, the Belgian government will have to come up with the €500 million elsewhere, probably by taking out a loan. “Van Rompuy’s administration is carrying on a tradition,” opines the paper: “in return for a tip – another agreement provides that GDF-Suez pay €240 million a year, on average, from 2010 – we are treated like Paris’s doormat, we are making ourselves entirely energy-dependent and preventing free competition in the energy market.”