LMP: Paks upgrade not in Europe’s interests

The project to upgrade Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant is not in the interests of the European community, Bernadett Szél, PM candidate of the green opposition LMP party, told a press conference held in front of the European Parliament, in Brussels, on Thursday.

Szél argued that the project to build two reactor blocks in addition to the existing plant would lead to a “natural, social, and economic upheaval”.

“Renewable energy is crucial for Hungary,” Szél said, adding that the country’s politics also needed renewing.

On another subject, Szél said that Hungary would benefit from European Union funding amounting to 2,700 billion forints (EUR 8bn) in 2017 alone. Yet the country’s annual GDP growth was only around 3 percent. She said a change in government would bring about “a new era of credible and honest politicians” who would “use those monies properly”.

During her visit to Brussels, Szél had talks with commissioners Karmenu Vella (environment policy), Vera Jourova (justice), Corina Cretu (regional policy), as well as Hungary’s Tibor Navracsics (education).

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz said in a statement that Szél’s negotiating partners included “commissioners seen as reliable allies of [US billionaire] George Soros”. In its statement, Fidesz called on Szél to reveal the purpose of her talks with Soros’s “foot soldiers”. The statement named Jourova and Cretu as “allies” of the US financier.

Source: MTI