EU Court Annuls Approval of Hungarian Nuclear Subsidies
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Thursday annulled the European Commission’s decision to approve Hungarian state aid for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Paks power station.
The EU’s highest court ruled that the Commission should have assessed not only EU state aid rules but also compliance with EU public procurement laws.
This decision overturns a previous ruling by a lower EU court, which had dismissed Austria’s legal challenge against the subsidies approved in 2017. With the ruling, the future of the Paks nuclear expansion project is now uncertain.
Hungary’s plan to expand the plant, located about 100 km south of Budapest, has faced criticism, particularly over its financing.
Eighty per cent of the 12.5 billion euro project cost was to be covered by loans from Russian state banks, with construction assigned to a company owned by Russian state-owned Rosatom.
Hungary and Russia signed the agreement in 2014 to build two new reactors, which would double the plant’s capacity to 4,000 megawatts.
The original four units, built in the 1980s with Soviet support, are set to be decommissioned between 2032 and 2037.
Under EU law, national subsidies are tightly regulated to maintain fair competition among member states. # EU Court Annuls Approval of Hungarian Nuclear Subsidies
