Budapest will veto EU plans to impose sanctions against Russian nuclear energy

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said at the IAEA General Conference that the Hungarian government will veto EU proposals to impose sanctions on Russian nuclear energy enterprises. Mr. Szijjártó posted a video of his speech on his Facebook (owned by Meta, banned and recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation).

Peter Szijjártó noted that he also stated his position at a meeting with the head of Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev. “The opportunity to use nuclear energy and to do so in cooperation with Rosatom is in Hungary’s national interests. The construction of the Paks-2 nuclear power plant continues to be a major international project, and in addition to Rosatom, American, German and French companies are participating in it,” the minister said (quoted by TASS).

Paks NPP is the only operating nuclear power plant in Hungary. It was built by Soviet specialists in the 1980s and still runs on Russian nuclear fuel. In 2014, Russia and Hungary signed an agreement on the construction, with the participation of Rosatom, of the second stage of the Paks NPP – two power units. Construction of the pit for the blocks began in September 2022. In April 2023, the European Commission approved amendments allowing Rosatom to carry out work on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Hungary.