Hungarian government reprimanded for being too secretive about Paks II

Hungary has received an official reprimand under the Aarhus Convention established by the United Nations, because the government has failed to provide transparency and to ensure the meaningful engagement of the public in the licensing of the planned Paks II nuclear power plant, according to a statement by the Climate Policy Institute Energiaklub. As the environmental NGO writes, the 2025 report of the Compliance Committee, which monitors compliance with the convention, found that Hungary had not fulfilled its 2021 obligations and

the government has continued to be secretive about the analyses and studies carried out in relation to the construction of the Paks II nuclear plant, and has not engaged with the monitoring body.

The Aarhus Convention is the basis of environmental democracy, which Hungary signed along with nearly 50 other countries. This convention guarantees that citizens have access to environmental information, can participate in decision-making, and can seek legal redress if their rights are violated. The Meeting of the Parties to the Convention, i.e. the general assembly of the countries that signed the convention, issued a "caution" to Hungary on November 18, 2025, which is a serious and extremely rarely used sanction in the Aarhus system. If the Hungarian government fails to make significant changes in the areas of transparency and public participation, this caution will take effect in 2028.

According to Energiaklub, Hungary now has a choice between ensuring public participation and the foundations of environmental democracy, or face further international consequences, such as the restriction of its voting rights under the Aarhus Convention. This has happened once before, when Belarus's rights were suspended in 2021 for liquidating an NGO called Ecohome.

The report also notes that the NGO sector in Hungary is shrinking significantly, and the government is becoming increasingly hostile towards environmental NGOs, which further weakens societal dialogue and opportunities for meaningful participation.

"The Aarhus Convention is about democracy in environmental matters: the government should not decide on matters of energy policy that will affect us for many decades behind closed doors, but should involve society in the decision-making process in a timely manner and allow full access," said András Perger, head of the energy program at the Energiaklub Policy Institute.

"The case of Paks II shows the exact opposite, namely, that the Hungarian government has failed to comply with even the most basic requirements: it has not published the analyses and calculations on which its decisions are based, it has not cooperated with international monitoring bodies, and the public continues to be presented only with fait accomplis."

The Aarhus procedure about Paks II was launched in 2014, when Greenpeace Hungary and the Energiaklub Policy Institute submitted a petition to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee. According to the petition, the Hungarian government seriously violated the convention during the preparations of the new nuclear power plant by failing to publish the background analyses underlying its energy policy decisions, delaying or refusing to release data of public interest, and failing to ensure meaningful public participation.

A public hearing was held in Geneva in 2015, where the Commission, the petitioning organizations, and representatives of the Hungarian government—including the government commissioner responsible for the Paks expansion—presented their positions. In 2016, the Baranya County Government Office issued the environmental permit for Paks II, which was challenged by Energiaklub and Greenpeace based on shortcomings related to nuclear waste management, accident risks, and the thermal load on the Danube, among other things; the case eventually went to court.

On October 6, 2021, the Compliance Committee, which also published the current report, found that in relation to Paks II, Hungary had violated several provisions of the Aarhus Convention and the preparation of its energy strategy, particularly in relation to access to information, participation in the development of environmental policies, and the publication of the necessary background analyses.

This was followed in 2021 by prescribing specific measures for Hungary in order to remedy the shortcomings.

According to the Energiaklub Policy Institute and Greenpeace Hungary, the Geneva meeting sent a clear signal: beyond the formal warning, it declared that the government must take transparency and social dialogue seriously. And in the case of an investment based on Russian technology costing thousands of billions of forints, that will have a decisive impact on the country for many decades to come, it is unacceptable for the background to the decisions to remain hidden from the public.