The Paks pacts will become public

The background of this court verdict is that Paksi Atomerőmű and its owner, the Magyar Villamos Művek Zrt. (Hungarian Electrical Works Ltd., MVM) launched the so-called Teller project, starting preparations for the expansion of the nuclear power plant. As the planned expansion’s costs may reach 2 to 3 thousand billion forints according to expert estimates, the Energiaklub Climate Policy Institute was of the opinion that the process should be public and transparent from the beginning. Therefore, with the option provided by the act on data of public utility, in June 2010 the Energiaklub requested certain financial data of the preparation project, and agreements made in the framework of it from the Paks Nuclear Power Plant (Paksi Atomerőmű). The power plant denied disclosure of the data claiming that it is not a public service company, so the Energiaklub initiated legal action against the company denying the data.

The binding verdict of 27 April stated with an advisory aspect that through the MVM the indirectly state-owned power plant “runs on public assets, therefore is obliged to endure the control of citizens”. The court did not accept the respondent’s explanation trying to coerce transparency, according to which only information pertaining to the sales of the state’s portion of property – the shares that materialize this ownership – is considered to be data of public utility. As opposed to the original decision, the Tolna County Court pointed out that the power plant dealing with state assets and operating under close state supervision fulfils public service, therefore the constitutional right to know data of public interest can be enforced upon it. It was added that publicity cannot result in disproportionate harm to technical knowledge and technological procedures, therefore such confidential data has to be blacked out in the course of complying with the verdict.

“The state’s spending on this power plant that plays a key role in supplying the country with energy is evidently a public matter. The transparency of the state-owned energy sector and especially of nuclear power production posing a high security risk is of outstanding public interest“, added to the verdict Levente Baltay, attorney of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union representing the claimant.

The result of the lawsuit can have an effect on another lawsuit initiated by the Energiaklub against the MVM about similar data pertaining to the so-called Lévai project launched in 2009 that is also related to the expansion of the Paks Power Plant.