Opinion of the Advocate General in the case C-59/23 P

PRESS RELEASE No 24/25 Luxembourg, 27 February 2025 Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C-59/23 P | Austria v Commission (Paks II nuclear power station) Advocate General Medina proposes to set aside the judgment of the General Court that upheld the Commission’s decision to approve aid from Hungary for two new nuclear reactors at Paks The Commission should have assessed whether the direct award of the construction contract to a Russian undertaking is compatible with EU law on public contracts By decision of 6 March 2017, 1 the European Commission approved investment aid which Hungary intended to grant to the State-owned company MVM Paks II 2 for the development of two new nuclear reactors at the Paks nuclear power station site, south of Budapest. The new reactors were gradually to replace the four existing reactors. MVM Paks II was intended to become, free of charge, the owner and operator of the two new reactors. Their construction was to be financed entirely by the Hungarian State. The construction of the new reactors was entrusted, by means of a direct award, to the Russian company Nizhny Novgorod Engineering, 3 in accordance with an agreement between Russia and Hungary on cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Russia also agreed under that agreement to provide Hungary with a State loan in order to finance the new reactors. 4 Austria 5 contested the Commission’s approval decision 6 before the General Court of the European Union....