Lázár noted that the agreement would soon be presented to the National Assembly. Paks is the only operating nuclear station in Hungary. Located 100 km away from Budapest, Paks NPP was designed by Soviet engineers and operates four units with VVER-440 reactors. It generates over 50% of electric power in the country.

In late 2014, Russia and Hungary signed an agreement to construct units 5 and 6 with Russian-designed VVER-1200 reactors (the project is also known as Paks-2). Russia plans to provide a €10bn loan to finance the project. Some skeptics kept saying that the project had certain financial risks and made Hungary even more dependent on Russia in the power industry.

In March 2015, UK’s Financial Times quoted its sources and wrote that the European Commission allegedly blocked the Paks-2 project and supported EURATOM in its refusal to approve the use of only Russian fuel in the yet-to-be-constructed reactors. The Hungarian Government dismissed the allegations. In their turn, EC representatives explained that the project was not blocked, and the Commission was yet studying all the aspects of future fuel supplies.

Russia and Hungary agreed to make minor amendments to the fuel supply contract, and EURATOM approved the new version. In September 2015, the European Commission informed the Hungarian Government that the Paks-2 project met the EC standards, including technical and environmental requirements. Last January the rumor had it that the Commission was investigating the project for three separate issues related to alleged government subsidies and public access to procurement information.