Expanding Hungarian nuclear plant with the Russian money
.jpg)
Hungary with its small population has one nuclear plant that was built here during the Soviet time. It is called the Paks Nuclear Power Plant and it gives about 40% of the electrical power generated in the country. Although this nuclear plant was origionally commissioned in 1982, just now in 2014 it has became a daily topic for all Hungarians. Why? Because the fact that the Hungarian government is taking loans from Russia to expand it raises many questions.
According to Reuters the Hungarian government is borrowing 10 billion Euros from the Russian government to add 2,400 MW capacity at Paks plant, which means a construction of two new units in this plant. The agreement was signed between Russia and Hungary on the 14th of January 2014. The Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated in Kossuth Rádió that “Without the Paks nuclear power plant, the Hungarian economy cannot be competitive.”
It is argued that this nuclear power plant will add as much as one percent to Hungary's economic growth per year and also all the construction work regarding the plant and operating it would add up to 10,000 jobs. After the agreement the Russian President Vladimir Putin added that “the central budget would collect over one billion dollars in taxes thanks to the deal.”
Hungary is addicted to Russia
However, for most of the people in Hungary and also for the opposition this decision seemed to be too rushed. Before the decision there was no public discussion at all. The ruling party Fidesz that has a supramajority in the Parliament just pushed this decision through. Attila Mesterhazy who is the leader of the opposition party Socialists stated to The Standart News “We oppose the way in which the contract was signed. Orban alone has decided himself the fate of Paks, even some members of the government knew nothing about the project until the very last day before the announcement. This cannot happen in a real democracy.”
The statements went even so far that Bernadett Szel who is the deputy of the green liberal opposition party LMP told to the national news agency MTI that "Viktor Orban practically sells Hungary out to the Russians.” The background of this statement is that Hungary is already buying almost all his oil, gas and nuclear fuel all from Russia. This deal even deepens addiction to Russian energy resources for the decades ahead.
As an Estonian this fear is quite understandable. If we look at the former members of the Soviet Union and other former Soviet puppet states like Poland, then diversifying their energy supply and being less addicted to one provider (read: Russia) has been in the agenda of these countries for a long time. The main fear that these countries have is that Russia would use its endless sources of energy as a strategic weapon. For example, they have threatened gas cut-offs many times and in Ukraine’s case it became a reality in 2006 and 2009. Opinions of Hungarians
To get some better insights of the topic since I myself am not Hungarian, I decided to ask the opinion of several Hungarians I knew regarding this topic. The dependency from Russia however, was not the main argument that they highlighted.
For example Ágnes, from Jewish Studies, highlights the question of the national debt. She states that the “Fidesz government is very proud of having the IMF sent away from Hungary, without needing additional loans. However, now we are taking loans from the Russians. And now we need apparantly 30 years to pay back the loans to Russia.“ She raises also the main question that the opposition higlighted: Why Hungary chose to take loans from Russia instead of IMF? “Besides that the Greens are outraged because it is a nuclear power and the Prime Minister told the Parliament about the contract after the negotiations,” she added.
Orsolya from Public Policy department also agrees with Ágnes. “Yes, dependency on Russia is one concern, but there are many other problems, such as why we should invest in nuclear energy at all or the complete secrecy in which the deal is being made.” She spotlights that the government does not want to reveal the concrete conditions of the deal. “However, at the moment it is not understandable why it was made because it seems disadvantageous to Hungary,” she reckons.
It is clear that being dependent on Russia’s energy is already a reality for the Hungarians. However, at the moment too many details of the deal are unclear. The sad thing is that with the supramajority of Fidesz, Hungarians really cannot do anything against the deal at the moment. We can only look forward and see if something will change with the Hungarian parliamentary elections that will be held in Hungary on the 6th of April.
Karl Haljasmets, Public Policy, Estonia
Photos: parameter.sk, alternativenergia.hu
0 comments:
Post a Comment