LMP submits referendum initiatives to thwart Paks upgrade

Budapest, March 2 (MTI) – The opposition LMP party has submitted referendum initiatives aimed at obstructing the planned upgrade of the Paks nuclear power plant.

LMP co-leader Bernadett Szél told a press conference on Thursday that the upgrade project must be put to a referendum so that voters have an opportunity to pass decision over the matter. She added that the constitution must also be changed if its provisions are in the way of a referendum, and noted that such modifications had been implemented before referendums on Hungary’s NATO and EU integration.

Ákos Hadházy, LMP’s other co-leader, said that the upgrade project could cost an estimated 6,000 billion forints (EUR 19.5bn), which he said equaled a contribution of 2 million forints from each Hungarian family. Voters are entitled to have a say in matters of such magnitude, while the government’s dialogue with the people had been “fictitious”, he insisted.

LMP has proposed the following questions to be put to voters:

“Do you agree that Hungary should not allow commissioning of nuclear plants with a combined capacity exceeding the capacity of the current blocks?”

“Do you agree that once the current nuclear blocks at Paks are shut down no electricity should be produced in any nuclear plant in Hungary?”

“Do you agree that parliament should pass a law stipulating that all nuclear capacities should be fully replaced by renewable energies from January 1, 2035?”

“Do you agree that parliament should oblige the government to terminate its agreement with Russia on cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy?”

“Do you agree that parliament should encode a ban on power production in nuclear plants after January 1, 2035?”

Source: MTI