Prague - Czech energy giant CEZ announced that France's Areva was eliminated from the tender process for the construction of two new reactors for the CEZ-operated Temelin nuclear plant.
CEZ spokesman Ladislav Kriz said that Areva failed to comply with legal requirements of the tender, committing "a series" of errors.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg already told the news to the French side yesterday during his state visit to Paris.
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"I said it to my counterpart, the French foreign minister. It would have been rude not to tell him when I was in the country on visit," said Schwarzenberg to Aktualne.cz.
The contract for construction of two new reactors of the Temelin nuclear plant is worth billions of euro.
Also, it is considered a strategic geopolitical decision for the Czech Republic, as the bidders represent three different and, to a large degree, rival global powers: US firm Westinghouse, Russian consortium MIR.1200, and "European" Areva.
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The "EU's bidder" has 15 days to appeal against the decision.
Vaclav Bartuska, the government's commissioner for the Temelin expansion project, refused to comment on Areva's removal from the selection process.
