Czech and Hungarian presidents defend expansion of states’ nuclear programmes

The Czech president Václav Klaus and his Hungarian counterpart János Áder said after a meeting in Budapest on Tuesday that their countries had a shared interest in expanding their nuclear power plants. Mr. Klaus said the two states would defend their nuclear policies in a Europe that was behaving irrationally. Austria has criticised both the Czech Republic and Hungary’s use of nuclear energy, and the Czech president said he was disquieted by any Austrian protests against plans to expand the Temelín plant in south Bohemia. He was in Hungary on the first day of a two-day state visit.