Tag: Benedek Jávor

More than 200 pages of Commission memos, emails and meetings minutes from 2016 show that Commission officials expressed serious doubts about Hungary’s numerous attempts to justify awarding the contract to build the €12 billion Paks II nuclear project to the Kremlin-owned Rosatom without opening up the project for bids. The documents show the Commission ultimately caved for political reasons when it dropped its infringement case in November 2016 over Hungary’s decision to skip a public tender two years prior. EU law requires competitive bidding for such projects. Even then, the argument about Rosatom’s technical exclusivity initially raised doubts in the Commission’s internal market and industry department, according to emails between staffers in the first few months of 2016. In the end, Budapest got Brussels’ green light for the Rosatom contract and Hungary stuck with a promise to solicit bids for subcontracts for Paks II. Kirst called the Commission’s eventual approval of the Rosatom deal an “artificially created rationale.” “Cherry-picking items or arguments from the procedure can be misleading and inaccurate” — The Hungarian international communications office Caudet said the discussions between the Commission and Hungary followed normal infringement procedures, with “a dialogue where additional questions are asked and additional explanations are put forward.” The Hungarian government’s international communications office said it offered “several arguments from the very beginning,” including the technical exemption. Brussels launched its case in November 2015, arguing that the Hungarian government awarded the contract “without a transparent procedure.” Hungary initially argued that its intergovernmental agreement with Russia precluded the need to seek bids, but the Commission disagreed. The second was to accept the argument. Finally, there was the “political” option: Accept that Rosatom did meet Hungary’s exclusive technical needs, as long as the subcontracts were awarded through tenders. The eventual compromise between Brussels and Budapest came despite serious concerns among other EU members and environmentalists “HU could not put forward real technical arguments, which justify that only Rosatom could execute the contract,” the minutes of a meeting on April 22, 2016 state.