Budapest ‘willing to cooperate’, but vows to continue with new reactors as planned
The European Court of Justice has struck down EU approval for Russia to build a nuclear power station in Hungary, arguing that it was unclear whether prime minister Viktor Orbán’s government followed EU procurement rules when awarding state nuclear corporation Rosatom the contract without a public tender.
Judges at the Luxembourg-based court ruled on 11 September that the European Commission should have taken into consideration EU public procurement rules when it approved Budapest’s plans to subsidise the construction of two new nuclear reactors built by Rosatom at the existing Paks nuclear power station site, about 120 km south of the capital Budapest in central Hungary.
The original 2017 decision by the commission to approve the investment aid had been contested by Austria, which has traditionally been anti-nuclear power.
“The Commission should have ascertained whether that direct award, made without a public tender procedure, complies with EU public procurement rules,” the court said.
“The Commission took the view that it did, but that decision is not sufficiently reasoned.”
Hungary’s government said it would continue the project as planned, but was ready to cooperate with the commission to demonstrate it had met public procurement and state aid requirements.
“The court did not say the project failed to meet public procurement rules, only that its reasoning was not satisfactory,” EU affairs minister János Bóka said.
‘No Legal Reason Not To Continue’
“Another procedure has established this [years ago], but it was not brought in to justify the current decision,” he added.
“There is no legal reason not to continue the Paks investment at its current pace.”
The commission said it would “carefully study the judgment and reflect on next steps”.
In December 2024 Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjártó said the Hungarian nuclear regulator had approved a preliminary safety report for the project, known as Paks II, paving the way for the pouring of first concrete at the beginning of 2025.
Rosatom has agreed to supply two Generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurised water reactor units for Paks II.
There are already four smaller earlier-generation Russia supplied VVER units at the site, which in 2023 supplied 48.8% of the country’s electricity production, according to International Atomic Energy Agency data.
