The European General Court has dismissed a 2018 case brought by the Austrian government against the European Commission over a new Hungarian nuclear power station, Paks 2, financed by Budapest and Russia.

Austria is historically one of the EU’s most fervent anti-nuclear countries and is suing the commission over its inclusion of nuclear power in the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy.

In 2018, Vienna also sued the commission for failing to ensure fair competition and maintained that Hungary’s state aid for a new nuclear power station had violated the bloc’s level playing field. The lower EU General Court dismissed the lawsuit on Wednesday (30 November).

The court held that while the subsidy was of significant size, at €12.5bn ($12.9bn), its limited purpose limited its impact on the level playing field.