Austria must accept Hungary’s right to decide on energy supply, says offical

Vienna, April 18 (MTI) – Austria must accept Hungary’s right to decide for itself how to supply its energy needs, the government commissioner for the upgrade of Hungary’s nuclear plant in Paks said in an interview published in the Tuesday issue of Austrian daily Der Standard.

“We are not as lucky as Austria, which has an abundance of mountain streams that can be used in energy production,” Attila Aszódi said. “For us, nuclear energy is the only carbon-free energy source which can provide a stable energy supply regardless of weather conditions.”

Aszódi noted that the Paks plant consists of four nuclear reactors that were built between 1982 and 1987 and had originally been designed for a life cycle of 30 years. Their life cycles were later extended by 20 years, but they will be replaced in the 2030s by the two new blocks to be built in the next decade, the government commissioner said.

Commenting on the suggestion that Austria could take Hungary to court over the project on the grounds of the involvement of illegal state aid, Aszódi said Austria had the legal means to take such steps, but the Hungarian government does not believe that such a legal challenge would be successful. Aszodi said the government hoped that for the sake of preserving friendly bilateral ties, Austria would acknowledge that like other European Union member states, Hungary, too has the right to decide for itself how to supply its energy needs.

The government commissioner said the European Commission had spent a year and a half investigating the Paks 2 project before approving it.

Contrary to what critics say, the Paks upgrade “does not come with any Russian influence”, Aszódi said in response to a question about Moscow’s political role in the project.