On Friday 18 November, the European Commission confirmed that it had closed the infringement procedure involving public procurement legislation opened against Hungary. The procedure involved the question of the renovation of the Paks-2 nuclear power plant and the construction of two new Russian nuclear reactors (see EUROPE 11627).
The Commission has still not given the go-ahead for the project because the probe into state aid granted by Hungary to the reactor is still continuing.
The Commission criticised Hungary for having allocated the contract to the Russian Rosatom group “directly, without transparent procedures”. It also explained that “Hungry had sufficiently justified the need to apply the technical exclusivity clause”. According to the directive on public procurement, it is possible to use the procedure without any prior competitive tenders “due to its technical specificity” or if the market can only be appropriately served by one particular operator. The Commission also stated that Hungary had made a commitment to “ensure that the majority of the other parties in the project would-be subcontracted in respect of transparency, equal treatment and non-discrimination”. The Commission says that this would enable EU economic operators to submit their candidacies in the calls for proposals and added that it would “closely follow the project’s implementation”.
The Commission probe involving the possible use of state aid is continuing. It has to establish whether “the projected investment by Hungary is justified from an economic point of view or whether it involves state aid”.
Oettinger denies mentioning "Paks" during his meeting last May with Orban. The issue arose as part of the controversy surrounding Commissioner for Digital Economy Günther Oettinger over the past few days. Oettinger has been criticised for travelling to Hungary last May in a private jet owned by the German businessmen, Klaus Mangold. Mangold is considered to be close to Moscow (see EUROPE 11670). Oettinger denies that he discussed the “Paks” project with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, during this visit to Budapest. According to German MEP Rebecca Harms, who is the co-chair of the Greens/EFA Group at the European Parliament, “the role of Commissioner Oettinger, who has throughout his career been an advocate of nuclear energy, remains questionable at least. His frequent meetings with Victor Orban and his ties to the Kremlin lobbyist Mangold are at least suspicious”. Oettinger held the portfolio of Commissioner for Energy from February 2010 until October 2014.
Under the inter-governmental agreement concluded in January 2014 between Russia and Hungary, Moscow would grant a loan of €10 billion to Hungary to fund the construction of two additional nuclear reactors at the Paks site. Hungary would assume 20% of the construction costs. Construction is due to begin in 2018 and the first reactor is expected to be up and running by 2023. The Paks plant currently provides 40% of electricity consumption in Hungary. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)