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Parliamentary question - E-005760/2014Parliamentary question
E-005760/2014

Possible infringement of European law by the award of the Paks nuclear power plant expansion project without a tender procedure

Question for written answer E-005760-14
to the Commission
Rule 130
Benedek Jávor (Verts/ALE)

For years, the Hungarian Government has been planning an international tender procedure and planning to invest in a competitively awarded contract for the technology and implementation of the projected expansion of Paks nuclear power plant, as all the preparatory documents indicate. It was only at the last moment, as a result of secret negotiations between the Hungarian and Russian parties, that the transaction was transformed into a nuclear power plant construction project to be implemented by international agreement between the two countries. All this not only came as a complete surprise to the Hungarian public and to professional public opinion, but according to the information available to date, it was just as much of a surprise to the competent EU institutions, which, under EC law on public procurement and competition, possess substantial powers to vet investment. Thus it also as yet remains unclear whether it is compatible with EU competition law for the roles of main contractor and general contractor for the enlargement project to have been conferred on Rosatom.

Can the Commission indicate whether it is investigating (or intends to investigate in the near future) the Paks nuclear power station expansion project because of the failure to award the contract by means of competitive tendering? When can the results of the Commission's inquiry be expected?

Does the Commission consider the project to be in accordance with the relevant public procurement directive?