{"id":8564,"date":"2023-07-11T12:57:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T10:57:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.direkt36.hu\/?p=8564"},"modified":"2023-07-11T12:57:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T10:57:56","slug":"kritikus-pillanatban-valtottak-le-a-paksi-atomeromu-szakmailag-elismert-vezetojet-hogy-helyet-csinaljanak-egy-osfideszesnek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/kritikus-pillanatban-valtottak-le-a-paksi-atomeromu-szakmailag-elismert-vezetojet-hogy-helyet-csinaljanak-egy-osfideszesnek\/","title":{"rendered":"Kritikus pillanatban v\u00e1ltott\u00e1k le a Paksi Atomer\u0151m\u0171 szakmailag elismert vezet\u0151j\u00e9t, hogy helyet csin\u00e1ljanak egy \u0151sfideszesnek"},"content":{"rendered":"

An unpleasant situation awaited Csaba Lantos on January 12, who had only been in charge of the newly formed Ministry of Energy for a few weeks. He was about to fire the head of a state-owned company with an impeccable work track record. G\u00e9za Pek\u00e1rik had previously been awarded by the Orb\u00e1n government and had been in charge of the Paks nuclear power plant, a key player in Hungary\u2019s energy supply for more than four years.<\/p>\n

According to several sources familiar with the events, the minister replaced the head of the nuclear power plant because Pek\u00e1rik\u2019s position was needed for someone else. According to one source, Lantos spoke to Pek\u00e1rik in a cordial tone at the meeting in the ministry\u2019s building in Budapest, but the gist of his message was that the CEO should leave his post.<\/p>\n

The next day, the government announced that P\u00e9ter J\u00e1nos Horv\u00e1th would be appointed to head the nuclear power plant and that Pek\u00e1rik would continue to be employed as a consultant. Mr. Horv\u00e1th was until then president of the Hungarian Energy and Utility Regulatory Office (MEKH) which oversees the domestic energy market, but in addition to his professional background, he was also known to have good connections with the government. He has met Fidesz politicians at sports events and for a while he led the Szolnok unit of Fidesz, which is an important grassroots base for Fidesz.<\/p>\n

Horv\u00e1th left the Energy and Utility Regulatory Office under turbulent circumstances. Last fall, a decision by the office he headed led to a drastic increase in municipal energy bills which, according to Direkt36 research, also infuriated Fidesz municipality leaders.<\/p>\n

The government did not want to leave Horv\u00e1th, who subsequently resigned as head of MEKH without an important post. They chose the Paks nuclear power plant for him, which is nevertheless currently facing a rather complicated task. The plant will soon start its refurbishment, to avoid the closure of Paks I in the 2030s. Mr. Horv\u00e1th, a petroleum engineer, has no experience in the nuclear field, so he is unlikely to have a say on certain issues.<\/p>\n

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We have sent several questions to Horv\u00e1th through the Paks nuclear power plant and to Lantos through the Ministry of Energy but have not received any reply. When contacted, Mr. Pek\u00e1rik said he did not want to comment on the matter.<\/p>\n

The complicated Paks renovation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Last summer, the Orb\u00e1n government announced that it would like to extend the operating time of the Paks nuclear power plant. This was partly due to energy insecurity caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine. The operating licenses for the four units of the nuclear power plant expire between 2032 and 2037, and the extension aims to prolong the various deadlines for each unit by at least 10, maximum 20 years. According to the Parliament’s decision, the extension of the operating period will also reduce dependence on Russian gas.<\/p>\n

Until his resignation last November, Minister for Technology and Industry L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Palkovics oversaw the issue. To speed up the preparation of the project, Palkovics held a series of private meetings with influential nuclear experts last summer (Direkt36 previously reported<\/a> that Istv\u00e1n Kocsis, who is currently serving his sentence for economic crimes and was in charge of the nuclear power plant in the early 2000s, attended several of these meetings).<\/p>\n

The extension of the operating time will be a major technical challenge. According to a source with close knowledge of the nuclear power plant, it will be more difficult to carry out than the previous renovation in the early 2000s. The work carried out at that time pushed out the operational lifetime by 20 years to the current deadline of 2032-2037. \u201cThe nuclear plant aged 20 years, things have become worn and corroded inside it,\u201d the source said.\u00a0 According to the source, this time the old equipment will also need to be replaced, meaning that problems that did not need to be addressed at the time of the previous lifetime extension will have to be addressed now.<\/p>\n

However, this more challenging work will no longer be carried out by G\u00e9za Pek\u00e1rik, who worked at the plant since 1987 and led it since 2018, but by J\u00e1nos P\u00e9ter Horv\u00e1th, who has good government connections but no experience in the nuclear industry.<\/p>\n

Always in position<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Horv\u00e1th has been around Fidesz for decades. In the 1990s, he even headed the Szolnok unit of Fidesz, when Attila V\u00e1rhegyi was the mayor of the city. \u201cHorv\u00e1th is a longtime Fidesz member. He was a confidant of V\u00e1rhegyi, they did almost everything together,\u201d an acquaintance of Horv\u00e1th told Direkt36.<\/p>\n

V\u00e1rhegyi is considered one of Fidesz\u2019s leading figures and although his political career was cut short when he was convicted of embezzlement in 2002, he retained his influence in Fidesz. Szolnok was an important Fidesz stronghold not only because of V\u00e1rhegyi himself but also because it\u2019s the hometown of Anik\u00f3 L\u00e9vai, Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s wife. Zsolt Nyerges, a lawyer and friend of the Orb\u00e1n family, is also from Szolnok, and was an important player in the Fidesz-close economic empire for a while.<\/p>\n

According to an acquaintance, Horv\u00e1th’s appointment as the head of the Hungarian Energy Office after Fidesz came to power in 2010 was partly due to his relationship with Nyerges. At that time, Nyerges was the right hand of Lajos Simicska, who controlled Fidesz\u2019s economic holdings, and the Simicska-circle was trying to acquire several important positions in the energy sector. (Nyerges declined to comment upon our inquiry).<\/p>\n

Horv\u00e1th\u2019s appointment in 2010, previously working as a mid-level manager at the Hungarian oil company Mol, came as a surprise to many. Horv\u00e1th was less known at that time, even Mol’s CEO Zsolt Hern\u00e1di \u201cdid not know him,\u201d according to a former government official.\u00a0 According to the source, Hern\u00e1di asked him about what should be known about Horv\u00e1th when he was appointed the new head of the Energy Office. (We contacted Hern\u00e1di through Mol’s press department but received no reply to our inquiry.)<\/p>\n

In this position, Horv\u00e1th played a major role in the utility price reduction, which became a symbolic element of the Orb\u00e1n government\u2019s policy from the beginning of 2013. The Energy Office is in charge of setting the tariffs, so it was the organization led by Horv\u00e1th that started to force suppliers to make various energy price cuts. Renamed to Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Office (MEKH) and given more powers, the agency was headed by Horv\u00e1th until the summer of 2013. Followingly, he was also appointed as the CEO of the state\u2019s electricity company for gas issues. From 2015, he also headed the state-owned utility holding company for a shorter period, a position he left after the Orb\u00e1n-Simicska conflict led to the loss of positions of figures close to Simicska.<\/p>\n

Horv\u00e1th returned in 2019 as the CEO of the M\u00e1tra Power Plant owned by L\u0151rinc M\u00e9sz\u00e1ros. In July 2020, Orb\u00e1n reappointed him as head of the Energy Office. One of his acquaintances explained his return by saying that although he was close to the Simicska-Nyerges circles, his loyalty to the prime minister was never questioned. A Fidesz politician highlighted Horv\u00e1th’s very good political and professional embeddedness. He has built his network of contacts among others at sports matches. According to the government source, Horv\u00e1th often appears at the matches of the Szolnok basketball team where he also regularly meets Fidesz politicians.<\/p>\n

Did not dare to take the risk<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Although Horv\u00e1th enjoyed the confidence of the Prime Minister, the office he headed made a decision last year that angered many in the Fidesz circles, according to Direkt36\u2019s information.<\/p>\n

This was linked to the publication of a ministerial decree on September 30 last year regarding the price of district heating. Residential rates remained unchanged, but the rates for nurseries, kindergartens, theatres, and social institutions, which are typically owned by municipalities, were increased. Mayor Gergely Kar\u00e1csony said after the publication of the decree that it would lead to a thirteen-fold increase in district heating costs for the capital\u2019s institutions.<\/p>\n

The reason why municipalities became angry at the MEKH headed by Horv\u00e1th was that before the heating season, the MEKH tells district heating companies at what price valid on a certain date to buy the gas they needed to produce district heating. Last summer, MEKH set the date between August 22 and 26 when the market price of gas was extremely high as the Russians were restricting gas supplies to Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey picked the wrong day. They should have taken the risk that gas prices would become cheaper later,\u201d a former energy official told Direkt36 about the agency\u2019s decision. According to the source, MEKH did not want to take the risk for supply security reasons, as they did not expect the gas price to fall as quickly as it did in September.<\/p>\n

MEKH\u2019s decision did not only affect the opposition-led Budapest but also the Fidesz-led cities. A municipality led by the governing party told Direkt36 that while their gas costs in the previous winter were 13 million euros, this expenditure had risen to 103 million euros by the winter of 2022. The Fidesz mayor said that they feared what would happen if some institutions and businesses could not pay their heating bills. \u201cThere was a lack of understanding as to why the energy office set the price linked to that period,\u201d the politician said and added the problem also generated tension in other Fidesz-run municipalities using district heating. According to the source, the situation was however more nuanced after the government paid compensation to district heating companies for the cost increase.<\/p>\n

Without nuclear energy experience<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Subsequently, last fall it was suggested in state energy circles that Horv\u00e1th would leave MEKH, among others because of the decision on district heating, and that he would take over the management of Paks. A source familiar with the nuclear power plant\u2019s operations said he heard such rumors as early as last November. \u201cIt seemed absurd,\u201d he said, referring to the fact that Mr. Horv\u00e1th had no nuclear energy experience, even though the law requires three years of such experience for various-level managers of a nuclear power plant.<\/p>\n

One expert in the field said that this alone did not rule out Horv\u00e1th\u2019s appointment. According to the source, the legislation states that decisions on nuclear safety issues will not be taken by the new CEO but by the lower management of the nuclear power plant with sufficient experience. However, several experts in the field told Direkt36 that the government appointed Horv\u00e1th to head Paks at a sensitive time of the extension of the plant\u2019s lifetime. Moreover, the government\u2019s announcement of the appointment of the new CEO also stated that Horv\u00e1th \u201cwill be responsible for the successful implementation of the extension of the operating time which is in preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is \u201ca very complex task. And then you send someone with no experience of Paks, and you take a big risk,\u201d said one of them. He was referring to the fact that it was not a good idea to change managers during the extension period as this could have a demoralizing effect. According to the source, the risks also increase when a manager without sufficient experience in nuclear power plants is forced to rely on others to make decisions on more complex issues.<\/p>\n

Illustration: Szarvas \/ Telex<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the beginning of the year, the head of the nuclear power plant was unexpectedly dismissed because his position was needed for a politically well-established person, according to Direkt36. While Paks is about to take on a major task, the new head has no nuclear energy experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-telex.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[466,474,479,493,494],"ppma_author":[547],"class_list":["post-8564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-paksi-titkok","tag-energiahivatal","tag-horvath-peter-janos","tag-lantos-csaba","tag-paksi-atomeromu","tag-pekarik-geza","author-cap-pufi"],"authors":[{"term_id":547,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"cap-pufi","display_name":"pufi","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","description":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8564"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/direkt36.exot.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=8564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}