PRAGUE – The European Commission misled journalists about a letter sent by French European Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné to Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček, which aimed to prevent a South Korean company from signing a €16 billion contract to build two reactors at the Dukovany nuclear power plant in Czechia.
Last year, the Czech authorities selected Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) to build the reactors, but the contract was challenged by the French energy giant EDF, and its signature was put on hold pending a decision by the Czech competition regulator.
EDF lost its legal challenge in October, as well as the subsequent appeal, which had been preventing the Korean side from signing the contract until the end of April.
This gave the Czech authorities an opportunity to formally finalise the deal, with the signing scheduled for 7 May. But on 6 May, a Czech regional court in Brno blocked the deal again following a fresh complaint by EDF.
Commission’s take
Thomas Regnier, a Commission spokesperson standing in for a colleague, told journalists on Monday that Séjourné’s letter was “absolutely not a request to put things on hold.”
“This is not what EVP Séjourné is asking, because this request, I mean this decision for interim measures, was already taken by an independent Czech court,” he said.
“Here it’s not, again, a French commissioner defending French interests. On the contrary, it’s a [European Commission] college member enforcing the legislation and engaging with the Czech authorities to protect our single market,” the spokesperson added.
Yet, Séjourné did, in effect, ask Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček not to sign the contract, as the letter shows – and he did so on 2 May. That was four days before the Czech regional court in Brno imposed interim measures suspending the contract signature.
Sincere cooperation
Séjourné’s letter states that the European Commission is examining whether the Korean company benefited from illegal state aid under the EU Foreign Subsidy Regulation when it won the tender to build the two reactors. This review was first requested last October by the French company EDF.
As the EU executive is “in the process of preparing a decision initiating an in-depth investigation,” the letter continues, Czechia has a duty of sincere cooperation with the Commission and should avoid “any situation that would irreversibly run counter to concerns set out in this letter and that could give rise to irreversible effects that prevent the [Foreign Subsidy Regulation] from being applied effectively.”
Czech company reacts
The Czech company in charge of the reactor project, EDU II, issued a statement defending the selection process won by the Korean bidder and calling on EDF to immediately publish the offer it submitted during the tender.
EDU II said it is ready to “seek full compensation for damages” and protect shareholder value against litigation.
The statement describes the claims of illegal subsidies under the EU Foreign Subsidy Regulation “speculation by the unsuccessful bidder” – EDF – and adds that the “unsuccessful bidder is not interested in winning the tender, but in ensuring that no nuclear power plant is built here in the Czech Republic at all.”