Billions spent on power linkages across EU not enough to keep Belgium warm?

European leaders have touted the single energy market since the 1990s, spending billions of euros for allowing power to flow across borders

Of all the places expecting a risk of blackouts this winter, Belgium may be the most unexpected.

Bureaucrats from the European Commission in Brussels have crisscrossed the continent for decades promoting the idea that power cuts will be a thing of the past as a border-free market emerges in energy. Governments across the region have spent billions of euros improving electricity links, allowing power to flow across borders at times of need.

And yet it is Belgium, home to the commission, that is warning of shortages as cold weather sets in and boosts energy demand. That will test the very