Dear Members of Parliament,

The Hungarian government has signed an agreement in Moscow on the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Paks. This treaty forces not only individual families but also the whole country into a foreign currency loan transaction of a questionable outcome. If all this is realised, the Hungarian energy policy will be forced to take an inescapable path determined by the government until the end of the century. The decision which is to seal the fate of future generations will be presented to Parliament without any asking for social consent.

It is hidden from the public opinion – and from you – that

• ·the new Paks nuclear plant would be the costliest domestic investment of all times adding up to at least HUF 4,000 billion plus the HUF 1,000 billion cost of the auxiliary facilities;
• ·the two new reactors would increase Hungary’s dependence on Russian energy;
• ·the cheap electricity from Paks is only a myth: the investment would only pay off at energy prices substantially higher than the current ones and this in return will surely result in an increase of energy prices and/or tax burdens;
• ·as opposed to the widely voiced nuclear renaissance, since the Fukushima meltdown the unmanageable and unacceptably grave risks have deterred most EU countries from building new nuclear power plants, and have made others decommission the old ones;
• ·this investment will withdraw resources from the modernisation of the energy system since instead of financing efficiency improvement, savings measures and a gradual involvement of more and more inexpensive renewable resources, we would spend on the most hazardous and most expensive mode of energy generation.

Thus all that the responsibly thinking citizens were hoping to get from the regime change way back in 1989, that is independence from Moscow, a clean and safe environment, a transition to a sustainable economy, would fall prey to political and technical megalomania.

We ask you not to give your consent to the intergovernmental treaty on nuclear power plant construction. There is no need for hasty decisions as according to the official position, the oldest Paks block is licensed to operate until 2032. A premature decision would only lead to poorly controlled overproduction, regulatory and sales problems in the coming decades. The rapid development of the energy industry provides new opportunities every year in the sustainable and cost efficient use of natural resources, and a hasty decision would rob us of these benefits.

Dear Member of the Parliament, please consider the risks of this venture, and, aware to its historical significance, say no to it. Please remember that the independence of our country, our future security and prosperity lie in your hands now!

Budapest, 23 January 2014

Ada Ámon, Director – Energiaklub Climate Policy Institute & Applied Communications
Zsolt Szegfalvi, General Director – Greenpeace Hungary
András Lukács, President – Clean Air Action Group
István Farkas, Executive President – Friends of the Earth Hungary
András Lányi, Associate Professor– Paks vobiscum?
Zsolt Boda, Spokesperson – Védegylet (Protect the Future)