Opposition calls on govt to drop Paks project in wake of EU concerns
Budapest (MTI) – Opposition parties on Friday called on the government to abandon the Paks nuclear upgrade project in wake of press reports that the EU had blocked the project.
The Paks nuclear plant upgrade is “unviable and unnecessary”, the opposition LMP party said. Bernadett Szel, LMP’s co-leader, told MTI that the government is not in a position to negotiate “like a peddler”, it should not be thinking about going through with the project even with different companies or altered conditions.
A responsible government in this situation would instead rethink the whole energy strategy for the next decades, she insisted. As part of this strategy, LMP would give preference to renewables, which would reduce the country’s vulnerability and create crisis-proof jobs, she said.
The opposition Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party said community law cannot be sidestepped when carrying out the Paks project. Benedek Javor, the party’s MEP, told a press conference on Friday that, to his knowledge, the EU had “vetoed” the Paks contract because it did not include any alternative routes for supplying fuel for the Paks upgrade. He said this decision depended more on the Russian side than on Hungary, as fuel rod procurement was one of the most lucrative parts of the project.
Javor said Brussels would “not stop here” concerning the Paks upgrade and will enforce EU law without fail. This means that the project is now encumbered on several counts: by an EU competition probe on suspicion of illegal state subsidy, by an internal markets probe on failure to call an international tender on the project and by a cartel procedure. Javor said these concerns were well founded and the conclusion can be drawn that Paks is not viable under its current contract.
The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said the content of the Paks upgrade contract should be made public. He also critised that the government had known the EU decision to block the project for a week but had not come forward.
The Egyutt party also called on the government to drop the project and make all related information public. Zsuzsanna Szelenyi, the party’s official, told a press conference that the investment would give way to a long-term historic mistake and would be “disaster incarnate” in terms of finances, foreign policy and energy policy.
Liberal Party leader Gabor Fodor told a press conference on Friday that the government should drop the “whole mistaken Paks project” and by this lift a huge political and economic burden off the country.
The Socialist party also called on the Paks contracts to be made public. Bertalan Toth, the party’s deputy leader, told a press conference that the EU decision is proof that no “dirty pacts” can be made with the Russians behind the back of the EU and the people.
“Especially not for a prime minister mired in controversy over an informant past and who could only get the Paks legislation through parliament with support from radical nationalist Jobbik,” Toth said.
Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs called a Thursday report by the Financial Times “false and completely misleading”. The British business daily wrote that the European Commission had blocked a 12 billion euro agreement between Hungary and Russia for the expansion of the Paks nuclear power station. The decision was made at a meeting of EU commissioners in Brussels last week, the paper said.
Russia’s state-owned nuclear company Rosatom said it had “nothing to add” to Hungary’s position on the situation.
Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters
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