Sajtóközlemény - november 19, 2015
Budapest, 19 November 2015 – The European Commission opened infringement procedure against Hungary due to violations of EU public procurement regulation in connection with the expansion of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant. The decision indicates that Brussels has recognized the risks involved in Paks II. The environmental organization claims that the Paks II project, commissioned without tendering, shrouded in secrecy, and involving extremely high costs is harmful for Hungary from economic, environmental and social point of view as well. By initiating the infringement procedure, Brussels has clearly decided in the interest of Hungarian citizens.
In April 2014, Greenpeace addressed a letter to the European Commission to call attention to the fact that the expansion of the Paks NPP is in breach of EU regulations on public procurements, state subsidies and energy markets. [1] With its decision, the Commission has declared that Hungarian authorities had infringed public procurement regulations of the European Union by giving Russian company Rosatom the commission to expand the Paks NPP without direct and open tendering.
The Hungarian Government needs to account for its NPP expansion project not only to the EU, but also to its own citizens. Even though there are EU investigations under way, the government is already spending public money on Paks II: expenses amount to 28 billion HUF in 2015 and are expected to reach 113 billion in the next year, while no calculation has been published on the profitability of the project at all. At the same time, it is getting more and more evident in terms of present trends that the countries investing in renewable energies will get a competitive advantage over countries insisting on sticking to expensive NPPs that could not be built without state subventions. The government plans instead to start spending the reserves set aside for treating radioactive waste and decommissioning the Paks NPP in the future, which is clearly in breach of domestic and EU regulations.
It seems to be the case that this time, it is Brussels that stands up to safeguard Hungarian interests instead of the Hungarian government. Greenpeace calls on the Hungarian government to stop all processes related to the Paks II investment, and to make all details public. Stopping the NPP expansion would be a great opportunity for Hungary to make the first step on the path towards a future based on decentralized and competitive renewables.
References:
[1] http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/Publications/2014/Paks-nuclear-project-complaint/
Photos about today’s Greenpeace demonstration:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/greenpeacehu/