Hungary-Russia: There is no Smoke Without Fire

• 03.13.2015, 15:32
•  Europe,  World

The European Union has backed Euratom's decision to block Hungary's 12 billion euro nuclear deal with Russia, a move that could worsen the situation between the Kremlin and Brussels, the Financial Times reports. Hungary denies the news.

According to the Financial Times, the decision was made at a meeting in Brussels last week. Hungary requested that Euratom (the European Atomic Energy Community) review the decision, FT informs, citing people close to talks. Blocking the deal would put a hold on Hungary's plans to import fuel exclusively from Russia. Hungary will now have to negotiate a new fuel contract or pursue legal action against the commission, the newspaper said.

The confirmation from the European or Russian officials was not received, instead the Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs rejected the news and said Budapest would  demand the newspaper to publish a retraction.

At the same time the member of the Commission from Hungary Tibor Navracic confirmed that the EC backed Euratom in blocking the deal between Budapest and Moscow.

"If the Russians now refuse to modify the original contracts, this will be the end of the road for the project," - Hungarian member of the European Parliament's Green group Javor Benedek said, FT reports.

Russia and Hungary agreed last year to build two units with 1,200 megawatts capacity at Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant, a decision that was criticized by the Hungarian opposition parties. According the deal signed between the sides Moscow offered Budapest a €10 billion loan on condition that the money would pay for the equipment.

Hungary is among those EU member countries which are against Brussels’ strengthening sanctions against Russia over the ongoing Ukrainian crisis. After talks with Russian President Putin and recalling the gas supply agreement of 1996 with Moscow, Budapest ensured its gas reserves till the end of 2015. At the same time relations between the sides became warmer with the nuclear deal, which caused Hungary to announce it would reject the EU's new energy union- thus acting against Brussels. Furthermore, there is  a possibility that the country will join the Russian-Turkish "Blue Stream" gas pipeline.