Austria contested the EU’s approval of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant upgrade
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The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Wednesday dismissed a suit by Austria contesting the European Commission’s approval of government investment aid for the upgrade of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant.
Austria had argued that Hungary’s direct award of the project to a Russian contactor in the framework of an agreement involving a 10 billion euro credit from Russia violated European Union rules on public procurement. The EC had cleared the aid citing a provision in the Treaties that allows aid for certain economic activities, as long as it “does not adversely affect trading conditions to an extent contrary to the common interest”.
“Assuming that a tender procedure may have had an influence on the amount of the aid, which Austria has not proven, such a factor would not by itself have had any effect on the advantage which that aid constituted for its recipient,” the CJEU said in a statement.
Read alsoNew Hungarian nuclear power plant could be built on fault line?
The CJEU also rejected allegations of “disproportionate distortions of competition and unequal treatment”, resulting in the exclusion of producers of renewable energy from the deregulated internal electricity market, noting that member states are free to decide the composition of their own energy mix, while the EC cannot require state financing to be allocated to alternative energy sources.
Mr. Szijjártó – always “fighting”… Unlawful means? No – it’s companies and countries with legitimate concerns our Politicians appear to be unable to address through dialogue. And then you end up in the courts, supra-national bodies, you name it.
And let’s be honest – all the documentation shows we never really pursued an Energy Plan B.
Our “plan”: https://energy.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-08/hu_final_necp_main_en.pdf
The EU assessment: https://energy.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2021-01/staff_working_document_assessment_necp_hungary_en_0.pdf
Latter makes for sobering reading (“we told you so!”)