Dear EURATOM,

The Commission recently closed two infringement procedures against Hungary related to construction of the Paks II nuclear reactors. One investigation1 by DG GROW examined whether the direct awarding of a contract to a Russian state company was compatible with EU public procurement law. Seperately, DG COMP initiated a case2 to determine whether or not the government's financial support of the Paks II project constituted state aid.

The Commission concluded that the public procurement exception invoked by Hungary was justified "taking into account the continuous improvement of nuclear safety following the Fukushima disaster" but has denied requests to make the basis of these safety considerations public.3 Independent experts require access to the evidence used to evaluate the "technical exclusivity" exception in the former case and any other environmental concerns expressed by EURATOM in the latter.

Thus, under the right of access to documents established in Regulation 1049/2001, and under the right of access to documents guaranteed in the Aarhus Regulation, we are requesting documents containing the following:

1. All documents addressing potential environmental emissions or other environmental matters related to the Paks II project, the safety and reliability of the VVER reactor design and any reports indicating whether or not the technical and safety requirements of the project could only have been met by one company.

2. Along with the agendas of public officials´engagements, we are requesting access to the lists of inter-service consultations, meetings, minutes of meetings and identification of the meetings' participants, along with staff memos and documents justifying opinions and conclusions.

3. Our request covers internal consultations during the preparatory and formal phases of both proceedings; it also covers complete documents and extends to the authors of submissions and declarations of conflicts of interests.

In addition to opinions submitted over the course of the infringement proceedings, we are also interested in all EURATOM assessments of the 2017 adoption of measures that effect the ability to enforce nuclear safety measures and any legal analyses of the environmental license granted domestically for the project.

Thank you for your assistance.

Yours sincerely,

Christiana Maria Mauro on behalf of Nuclear Transparency Watch

1 NIF 2015/4231
2 SA.38454 (2015/C)
3 www.euobserver.com/energy/139183

Dear Access to Documents Team,

We received a response from DG ENV stating that there had been no communications with this directorate during the state aid and public procurement infringement proceedings. As for the other directorates, their responses are long overdue.

When can we expect the requested documents?

Yours sincerely,

Christiana Maria Mauro, on behalf of Nuclear Transparency Watch