Battle for Paks II: Austria's stage victory against Hungary's nuclear plans!

Battle for Paks II: Austria's stage victory against Hungary's nuclear plans!

In the controversial case surrounding state aid for the Hungarian Paks II nuclear power plant, the legal situation could change significantly. Austria recently won a stage victory after the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union found that the EU Commission had not sufficiently checked the approval of aid for Paks II. This aid is closely linked to the award of the contract for the construction of new reactors to the Russian company “Nizhny Novgorod Engineering”, which in itself raises questions about compliance with EU procurement law, such as this Courier reported.

The Advocate General argues that the EU Commission should have examined whether this direct procurement contract was permissible under the provisions of EU procurement law. Patricia Lorenz, anti-nuclear spokeswoman at GLOBAL 2000, emphasizes that the lawyer's criticism should also be applied to similar cases, such as those in Poland, where a direct contract award to the US company Westinghouse is also being considered. This could create the basis for distortions of competition throughout the European market, Lorenz continued. It is also questioned whether the investment sums of 12.5 billion euros specified in 2017 when approved are still current, which further weakens the arguments for state support. Austria is taking legal action against the previous ruling that approved the aid and is calling for a reassessment of the entire situation, as reported by APA OTS.