Brussels – The EU’s highest court has ruled that Hungary’s public funding of a nuclear power plant, after awarding the contract to the Russian state nuclear corporation, was illegal. The European Court of Justice sided with Austria in a case it took against the European Commission’s approval of Hungary’s ‘state aid’ to the Paks II nuclear project despite Hungary’s failure to run a proper tendering process, directly granting Rosatom the multi-billion-euro project.
When the Commission green-lit Hungary’s subsidies for the nuclear project in 2017, Greenpeace argued that the direct award was an undue gift from Hungary to Russia’s Rosatom and should never have been authorised. Today’s ruling confirms Greenpeace’s concerns over the illegality of the Commission’s decision, which undermines the effectiveness of EU sanctions and effectively allows Russia to profit from the Hungarian taxpayers’ money while waging war against Ukraine.
Greenpeace EU legal strategist, Andrea Carta, said: “Today’s ruling spotlights a spectacular regulatory failure on the part of the European Commission. Even with Hungary’s breach of tendering rules plain to see, the EU’s competition authorities scrambled to approve the Paks II subsidies so that Hungary could buy Rosatom’s reactors, saddling Hungarian taxpayers with the bill. With this wasteful and harmful project dead in the water, Hungary can now invest in the renewable energy and energy savings that will start cutting pollution and people’s bills straight away.”
The Paks II project consists of two large reactors supplied to Hungary by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom. The engineering, procurement and construction contract was concluded in 2014 between Rosatom’s subsidiary Nizhny Novgorod Engineering Company Atomenergoproekt and Hungarian state-owned company Paks II.
According to this contract, the two new reactors for the Paks nuclear power plant were meant to start operation in 2025 and 2026 respectively. However, the project has suffered many years of delay and the construction is scheduled to start only in November 2025.
In 2017, the European Commission had authorised the state aid for the construction of these two reactors, despite the fact that Hungary directly awarded the project to Rosatom instead of running a proper tender procedure as mandated by EU public procurement rules.
Next steps
The court ruling now means the European Commission must ensure that no more public money is paid into the Paks II project, and that any public money already paid to Rosatom is returned.
Contacts:
Andrea Carta, Greenpeace EU legal strategist:
+32 (0)496 16 15 82 | [email protected]
Greenpeace EU press desk:
+32 (0)2 274 1911 | [email protected]
For breaking news and comment on EU affairs: Bluesky
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. We do not accept donations from governments, the EU, businesses or political parties. Greenpeace has over three million supporters, and 26 independent national and regional organisations with offices in more than 55 countries.
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