National Assembly invited former prime minister of Belgium Yves Leterme to hold a special lecture
- Democratic Decision Making Process on Energy Policy -
- Summary -
The National Assembly Futures Institute (President, Park Jin), the Bareunmirae Party Kim Dong-Cheol and Korea Nuclear Policy Society jointly invited the former prime minister of Belgium Yves Leterme to hold a special lecture under the theme of “The Democratic Decision Making Process on Energy Policy” on May 15 (Wed.).
In this lecture meeting, a special lecture was given by the former prime minister of Belgium Yves Leterme, followed by a panel discussion which was chaired by the president of the NAFI Park Jin. During Lethem's terms of office as a prime minister, Belgium held the presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) and was at the center of Europe's energy transition. It was discussed the democratic process of establishing a sustainable energy transition policy through the special lecture given by the former prime minister of Belgium Yves Leterme.
From now on, in line with global trend of shifting to low carbon/ green energy in response to climate change, the NAFI continues to conduct discussions on the desirable public consensus process and related researches on energy policies for sustainable society by referring to the energy transition policy in Europe. <End>
Prepared by :
associate research fellow of the NAFI, Huh Jong-Ho (02-2224-9812, joheo@nafi.re.kr)
※ Please schedule it for morning report on May 17, 2019 (Friday).
The National Assembly Futures Institute (President, Park Jin), the Bareunmirae Party Kim Dong-Cheol and Korea Nuclear Policy Society jointly invited the former prime minister of Belgium Yves Leterme to hold a special lecture under the theme of “The Democratic Decision Making Process on Energy Policy” on May 15 (Wed.).
The former prime minister of Belgium Yves Leterme was born on October 6, 1960 and got degrees in Law(BA) and in Political Science(MA) from the University of Ghent. Before serving as Prime Minister, Leterme held a variety of political posts in Belgium. After starting his career as an Alderman in his home town of Ypres, he became a Member of Parliament in the Chamber of Representatives, Group Chairman and leader of the opposition, Secretary-General and Chairman of the CD&V party, Minister-President and Minister for Agriculture of the Flemish Government, Federal Senator, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Budget and Mobility, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Yves Leterme served as Prime Minister of Belgium from 2007 to 2011, and then as Deputy Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris from 2011 to 2014. Yves Leterme currently serves as the Secretary-General of the Stockholm-based intergovernmental organization International IDEA.
In this lecture meeting, a special lecture was given by the former prime minister of Belgium Yves Leterme, followed by a panel discussion which was chaired by the president of the NAFI Park Jin. During Lethem's terms of office as a prime minister, Belgium held the presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) and was at the center of Europe's energy transition. It was discussed the democratic process of establishing a sustainable energy transition policy through the special lecture given by the former prime minister of Belgium Yves Leterme.
■ Summary of Special Lecture
The former prime minister Leterme gave a special lecture under the title “Energy Policy and Democracy”. It assumed that energy was the process of human evolution and was an integral part of all civilizations and societies. To address energy consumption that has quadrupled since 1965, Leterme mentioned the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG), especially No. 7 of the SDGs. It emphasizes “access to affordable, reliable and modern energy” and insufficient access, inequality, impact on health, climate change, depletion of natural resources, biodiversity threats, efficiency, safety, distribution, increased vulnerability and others were described as current challenges. .
In this context, Leterme raised the issue of renewable energy vs. fossil fuels. By adding that reduction of CO2 emissions should be central in this matter, Leterme mentioned the IPCC's goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 55% by 2030. Leterme, therefore, argued that a perspective on the energy problem should be fossil fuel vs. non-fossil fuel. Leterme introduced a case that contradicting arguments were made Sweden, from opposition to nuclear power plants in 1980 to choose nuclear power plants for the environment in 2019.
What is the democratic process to solve this? First, the former prime minister Leterme introduced the “the great horse manure crisis” of 1894. Nineteenth-century cities depended on thousands of horses for their daily functioning. All transport, whether of goods or people, was drawn by horses. The problem of course was that all these horses produced huge amounts of manure. Consequently, the streets of nineteenth-century cities were covered by horse manure. The supposed problem of excessive horse-manure collecting in the streets was solved by the proliferation of cars which replaced horses as the means of transportation in big cities. As can be seen from the story, it was assumed that the problem could be solved through the development and advances in science and technology. On this premise, Leterme argued that it was required a strong will for legislation as well as a democratic procedure centered on democratic participation, engagement, transparency, accountability, community-ism, and responsiveness. To this end, Leterme suggested not only policy options such as tax incentives but also referendum, expert advisory procedure, civic movement, etc. to encourage the public to actively participate in policy making and for the denuclearization of energy production and consumption
At the end of the lecture, Leterme concluded by saying “Energy is a matter of individual as well as the public, and legislation through democratic principles is necessary. We should focus on discussion for the production and consumption of non-fossil.
The following panel discussion session was hosted by the president of the NAFI Park Jin. When asked to share the experience of energy transition in Europe, the former prime minister of Leterme answered that the discussion on denuclearization in Europe has steadily increased since the 1990s and the parliament decided to legislate the bill after discussing with green politicians. He also explained that it required a gradual and long-term discussion before deciding on a change in the energy production structure, and consensus with the nuclear power plant owners was very important in the process.
Though Korea has recently been reducing nuclear power plants, electricity prices have been kept low. Under this circumstance, a question was raised that higher demand for eco-friendly renewable energy might result in increases in electricity prices. Leterme suggested that it would be appropriate to go in the direction of allowing the public to save electricity by the introducing competition into the electricity industry, and that it would be also a way for Korea to provide information on energy policy to the public so that costs and benefits could be compared using advanced ICT technology. In addition, he said that since electric power demand would increase in the future, it would be necessary to consider sufficient alternatives to renewable energy other than nuclear power plants.
Prepared by : associate research fellow of the NAFI, Huh Jong-Ho (02-2224-9812, joheo@nafi.re.kr)
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