Hungary: Gov-NPP Paks vs. European Commission, new round

Published on 20. January 2016., SEE Energy News

Continuation of the dispute regarding the expansion of the Hungarian nuclear power plant Paks.

Hungary has not provided sufficient information in its argumentation that NPP Paks is not a case of an unfair assistance of the state to a favored producer of energy – it says in the report of European Commission.

It also says that the Hungarian Government did not give evidence regarding the expansion of the power plant, whether the project is profitable, having in mind the allocation of risk according to the contract and future income expectations (based on future energy prices). Because of that EC concluded that this is the case of state assistance to the energy producer, which puts it in a favorable position in the market.

The Hungarian Government rejected the report, stating that it contains “numerous irregularities and misunderstandings which lead to unfounded and wrong conclusions”, and they claim that the project is competitive and that it is expected that the investment will be realized in the market conditions without any state help.

Recent news from Hungary also raised the attention of EC. Hungarian gov plans to transfer the NPP Paks ownership from MVM to newly formed energy power utility company ENKZS, transmits Serbia-energy.eu