Commission rejects accusations of defending French interests in Czech Dukovany case

Brussels, May 12 (CTK correspondent) - A European Commission spokesperson today rejected accusations that the Commission's Vice-President, Frenchman Stéphane Séjourné, was defending French interests in connection with plans for a contract for Dukovany. At the beginning of the month, Séjourné wrote to Czech Industry Minister Lukáš Vlček, asking Czechia to postpone the signing of a contract to build two new nuclear units at the Dukovany power plant. The EU executive is now investigating whether foreign subsidies were granted to South Korea's KHNP, the company that won the tender, which could distort the European Union's internal market.

The signing of the final agreement for Dukovany was also blocked by the Regional Court in Brno. French company EDF did not win the tender.

In response to the letter today, the head of Czech energy company ČEZ, Daniel Beneš, said that the French side was not seeking to win the dispute over the completion of Dukovany, but rather to prevent the power plant from being built in Czechia at all. Environment Minister Petr Hladík (KDU-ČSL) said he did not consider the timing of the Commission's letter to be a coincidence, nor the fact that it was sent by a French vice-president.

"This is not about a French European commissioner defending French interests, but about a member of the European Commission who is enforcing legislation and working with Czech authorities to protect our single market," Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said in response to a question from Czech journalists.

The EU executive's spokesperson confirmed that the Commission had sent a letter to the Czech government and that it expressed concerns related to the Foreign Subsidies Regulation regarding the South Korean company. According to Regnier, this is not the first step the Commission has taken: it sent a request for information to Czechia on February 12, but received no response.

"This is definitely not a request to suspend the matter," the spokesperson stressed.

However, the letter, which CTK was able to see, refers indirectly to postponing the signing, and its subject line reads: "Request for immediate action to suspend the signing of the contract for new nuclear reactors at Dukovany".

The EU executive has already launched a preliminary review to assess whether potential foreign financial contributions received by the South Korean company constitute foreign subsidies and, if so, whether those subsidies distort the internal market.

The review concerns compliance with the 2022 Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), which addresses subsidies that distort the internal market. "The duty of sincere cooperation requires the Czech Republic to avoid any situation that would irreversibly conflict with the concerns set out in this letter and that could have irreversible effects preventing the effective application of the FSR," the letter says.

In this regard, the EU executive stresses that it "is not prejudging the final decision"; however, it is currently preparing a decision to launch an in-depth investigation, the letter says. "We are not yet at the stage of launching an in-depth investigation, and I would not like to prejudge whether we are planning to do so or not," the Commission spokesperson said today. "All Commission Vice-President Séjourné is doing is engaging in discussions with a member state and with industry, as he always does," the spokesperson added. As he explained, depending on the information subsequently provided to the Commission, the EU executive will decide whether or not to take further action. According to the spokesperson, there is no deadline for a decision in this case.