LUXEMBOURG is to join Austria in suing the European Commission for giving permission to Hungary to expand its Paks nuclear plant.

Environment Minister Carole Dieschbourg told reporters yesterday that her government would add its weight to the case that Austria is to file at the Court of Justice of the European Union, the bloc’s top judicial institution.

“It is important that no public funds be invested in nuclear power,” she said. “It is definitely the wrong way.”

The expansion of the Paks plant had come before the European Commission for approval under state aid laws, which strictly limit government investment in the economy.

After Hungary agreed to several measures to ensure supposed “fair competition,” EU officials said the project, being carried out with Russia’s Rosatom, could go ahead.

The European Commission said it would defend its decision in court.

Based on previous rulings, the court is likely to find in favour of the commission.