The Austrian government has persuaded the European Commission to put CEZ’s Temelin nuclear plant on its agenda. Austria has been a long-standing opponent of nuclear power in general and the Temelin plant in particular. We do not consider this development a threat to the plant. Firstly, the EU is not involved in the nuclear power policies of its members, let alone EU candidate states, and any European Commission’s report on Temelin would only be informative. Secondly, the EU is familiar with the Temelin situation and has never expressed any major concerns with the plant, so it is unlikely that it would suddenly now change its view. Nonetheless, Czech government officials have said they do not have a problem with the EU monitoring the situation more closely. Overall, not a big deal for the stock today, we think. Separately, CEZ can no longer export power to Austria because of its nuclear-power generation (as a result of the Austrian government’s decision), but this should not unduly affect CEZ since Austrian exports have represented only 2% of CEZ’s total exports.
(Ondřej Daťka)