The CJEU said the EC should have ascertained whether the award of the contract, without a public tender procedure, for the construction of two reactors at the Paks plant to a Russian company complied with EU public procurement rules.

The judgement was made after an appeal lodged by Austria.

The EC had approved the Paks II investment aid in a decision on March 6, 2017.

The contract for the upgrade was awarded directly to Russia's Nizhny Novgorod Engineering, and the state of Russia agreed to provide Hungary with a loan to finance most of the cost of the investment.

Austria contested the EC's decision approving the aid before the General Court, but the action was dismissed. Austria then lodged an appeal with the CJEU.

The CJEU's decision on Thursday sets aside the judgment of the General Court in addition to annulling the approval decision of the EC. 

Szijjarto: CJEU judgment won't restrict or slow Paks II investment

A judgment on Thursday by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) "will not restrict or slow to any degree" the Paks II project to upgrade Hungary's sole commercial nuclear power plant, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said at a joint press conference with his Austrian counterpart Beate Meinl-Reisinger in Budapest.

In a statement issued by his ministry, Szijjarto stressed that the judgement had annulled an earlier decision by the European Commission.

"This judgment will not restrict or slow to any degree the advance of the investment. On the contrary, we have accelerated the investment recently," he said.

Paks II remains a "pillar" of Hungary's future energy security, he added.

CJEU judgment no obstacle for Paks expansion - minister

The annullment on Thursday by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of an earlier decision by the European Commission did not establish any violation by Hungary and does not pose any obstacle to the continuation of the Paks II project to upgrade the country's sole commercial nuclear power plant, Minister for European Union Affairs Janos Boka said at a weekly government press briefing.

Boka explained that the CJEU had not said public procurement rules were violated, but only that the EC had not probed the matter or at least had not justified its position.

He noted that the EC had established in another probe, in 2015, that the Paks II public procurement procedures were in compliance with rules. He added that the court had objected to the lack of connection between the two cases.

As the CJEU found no fault with the system of state aid or the public procurement procedure used, Boka said there was no legal obstacle in the way of the Paks II investment continuing on schedule.

Meanwhile, Szijjarto: Hungary-Austria cooperation against illegal migration 'excellent'

Cooperation between Hungary and Austria on fighting illegal migration is "excellent", and Hungary is pursuing its efforts to protect its southern borders and western Europe, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

At a joint press conference held with Austrian counterpart Beate Meinl-Reisinger, Szijjarto noted the government's endeavours to cultivate good relations with the country's neighbours, adding that Hungary and Austria were working to further improve already good bilateral ties.

The foreign minister welcomed mutually beneficial economic cooperation. Some 2,200 Austrian companies form the second largest investor community in Hungary, employing a total 80,000 Hungarians, he said, adding that the government has awarded 34 Austrian projects subsidies totalling 60 million euros in the past ten years.

Austria and Hungary share the goal of reinforcing the European Union and making the bloc a crucial global political and economic player again, Szijjarto said. He added that drafting the community's next seven-year budget was key, so it "serves the interests of the continent rather than those of others."

The minister also expressed his opposition to suggestions by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, that "Europe must fight". "We think that Europe should not fight but develop ... we want a peaceful and improving Europe," he said, adding that the area in which the Hungarian government wanted significant change was the EU's migration policy.

Referring to Hungary's fence along its southern border, Szijjarto said Hungary has spent "hundreds of billions of forints" on border control in the past ten years, adding that the Hungarian border regime has helped to "keep more than one million illegal migrants outside Europe". "They would all be in Europe now had we not stopped them," he said.

"It is the harshest ... application of double standards that the president of the EC effusively praises Poland's fence construction, while we Hungarians are paying daily a one million euro fine for constructing our own fence which protects the European continent," Szijjarto said.

He called on the EC to "drop its severely Hungarophobic double standards". The EC should treat Hungary on a level playing field with Poland which was building a fence on the eastern half of the continent, he said, adding that "if financial aid is owed to Poland, it is also owed to Hungary."

Szijjarto said he had assured his Austrian counterpart that Hungary would continue to protect its own southern borders, Austria, and the continents's western parts. "We will not allow illegal migrants in," he added.

Szijjarto and Meinl-Reisinger agreed that a successful migration policy required the EU's substantial assistance for stabilisation efforts in areas around Europe.

Answering a question, Szijjarto dismissed a suggestion that Austrian companies in Hungary would be subjected to extra taxes. "There are sectors with higher taxes than others, and Austrian companies in those sectors could also bear the higher tax burden compared with other companies," he added.

He also voiced the government's appreciation for Austrian companies and pledged continued government support for their investment projects.

MTI Stock Photo - for illustrative purposes only

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all narratives within the local media.

XpatLoop believes in empowering readers to form their own views through complete and comprehensive coverage. To facilitate this XpatLoop has a balanced range of news partners, as you can see when you surf around XpatLoop.com

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