Staunchly anti-nuclear Austria lodged a legal complaint with the European Court of Justice on Thursday against the EU’s approval of the expansion of a nuclear plant in neighbouring Hungary.
The approval, granted by the European Commission in March, would allow the expansion of the Paks nuclear plant outside the Hungarian capital Budapest with a 10 billion euro ($12.4 billion) Russian loan.
The plant is Hungary’s only nuclear facility and supplies around 40 percent of its electricity needs.
“For our nature, our environment and our unique landscape, we must take up this David and Goliath struggle,” sustainability minister Elisabeth Koestinger said in a statement, confirming the launching of the complaint at the Court of Justice of the European Union.
“Nuclear energy must have no place in Europe. We will not budge one centimetre from this position!” she added.
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The construction of two new reactors at the site is part of a 2014 deal struck between Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Victor Orban and ally Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The work, to be carried out by Moscow’s state-owned nuclear agency Rosatom, is set to more than double the plant’s capacity.
Hungary’s opposition has criticised the awarding of the contract to Rosatom without holding an open tender.
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Austria filed a complaint against EU-approved state aid for the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in Britain in 2015, arguing that atomic energy was unsustainable and high-risk.
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