Brussels, 19/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission addressed a letter of formal notice to Hungary on Thursday 19 November for failing to comply with European law on the award of public contracts in a nuclear power plant project.
The Commission is of the view that Budapest infringed EU procurement rules in the construction of two reactors and the refurbishment of two additional reactors in the Paks II nuclear power plant on the banks of the Danube in central Hungary.
The alleged infringements are to the directives on coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors (2004/17/EC) and on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts (2004/18/EC). The goal of the two directives is to better ensure transparency, non-discrimination, and equal treatment for all economic operators in tendering and the award of public contracts.
The letter of formal notice is the first stage of the infringement procedure. Hungary will now have two months to respond to the arguments put forward by the Commission and to propose corrective measures in order to bring matters into compliance with EU law, said Lucia Caudet, European Commission spokesperson for the internal market. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)