The Prague Post - Hungary protests against Chinese battery plant defy 'Orbanomics'

EUR -
AED 4.271097
AFN 80.075691
ALL 97.693544
AMD 445.106045
ANG 2.081408
AOA 1066.464876
ARS 1479.700596
AUD 1.786311
AWG 2.093388
AZN 1.974665
BAM 1.956378
BBD 2.340383
BDT 140.691538
BGN 1.962703
BHD 0.438199
BIF 3454.139565
BMD 1.162993
BND 1.491265
BOB 8.008364
BRL 6.452402
BSD 1.159117
BTN 99.748175
BWP 15.658979
BYN 3.793389
BYR 22794.669946
BZD 2.328378
CAD 1.597784
CDF 3356.398956
CHF 0.933299
CLF 0.029244
CLP 1122.231048
CNY 8.354599
CNH 8.354508
COP 4658.6723
CRC 584.865713
CUC 1.162993
CUP 30.819324
CVE 110.316067
CZK 24.636503
DJF 206.412001
DKK 7.462795
DOP 69.73168
DZD 151.527538
EGP 57.403837
ERN 17.4449
ETB 160.871386
FJD 2.625342
FKP 0.866222
GBP 0.865459
GEL 3.151731
GGP 0.866222
GHS 12.083594
GIP 0.866222
GMD 83.149009
GNF 10058.569753
GTQ 8.894117
GYD 242.413258
HKD 9.127887
HNL 30.335782
HRK 7.533985
HTG 152.189142
HUF 399.011512
IDR 18960.338973
ILS 3.910187
IMP 0.866222
INR 100.002314
IQD 1518.515998
IRR 48976.555294
ISK 141.815831
JEP 0.866222
JMD 185.822824
JOD 0.824539
JPY 172.680668
KES 149.735519
KGS 101.703247
KHR 4646.110795
KMF 494.854893
KPW 1046.658061
KRW 1617.56107
KWD 0.355376
KYD 0.965955
KZT 619.061895
LAK 24996.786269
LBP 103859.570969
LKR 349.334715
LRD 232.407584
LSL 20.755386
LTL 3.434017
LVL 0.703483
LYD 6.30381
MAD 10.503601
MDL 19.705291
MGA 5182.309838
MKD 61.58904
MMK 2441.094069
MNT 4170.804593
MOP 9.371419
MRU 46.109948
MUR 53.090358
MVR 17.904415
MWK 2009.895842
MXN 21.799578
MYR 4.936324
MZN 74.384482
NAD 20.755386
NGN 1774.355704
NIO 42.659014
NOK 11.94036
NPR 159.595507
NZD 1.950165
OMR 0.446879
PAB 1.158942
PEN 4.112039
PGK 4.870171
PHP 66.432536
PKR 330.23229
PLN 4.258546
PYG 8972.153325
QAR 4.226356
RON 5.073555
RSD 117.183238
RUB 90.618779
RWF 1665.742448
SAR 4.36257
SBD 9.651504
SCR 17.020032
SDG 698.372794
SEK 11.299405
SGD 1.493266
SHP 0.91393
SLE 26.574434
SLL 24387.393949
SOS 662.39524
SRD 42.89349
STD 24071.614573
SVC 10.142782
SYP 15121.061961
SZL 20.751249
THB 37.671671
TJS 11.08133
TMT 4.082107
TND 3.41408
TOP 2.723851
TRY 46.911431
TTD 7.86871
TWD 34.160372
TZS 3033.420476
UAH 48.527029
UGX 4152.940304
USD 1.162993
UYU 46.891707
UZS 14811.984019
VES 136.029579
VND 30417.509954
VUV 139.135695
WST 3.210017
XAF 656.249501
XAG 0.030477
XAU 0.000348
XCD 3.143048
XDR 0.816164
XOF 656.249501
XPF 119.331742
YER 280.688811
ZAR 20.705521
ZMK 10468.336283
ZMW 27.094542
ZWL 374.483389
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Hungary protests against Chinese battery plant defy 'Orbanomics'
Hungary protests against Chinese battery plant defy 'Orbanomics' / Photo: ATTILA KISBENEDEK - AFP

Hungary protests against Chinese battery plant defy 'Orbanomics'

Even as diggers turned over land for one of Europe's biggest electric battery plants, environmental protesters vowed to run the Chinese project out of town.

Text size:

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is keen to woo foreign manufacturers and promote the country as a global hub for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

The market for greener vehicles is expected to surge in response to consumers' worries about climate change, with top carmakers shifting towards developing less polluting vehicles.

But the groundswell of opposition in Hungary's second biggest city of Debrecen is a rare grassroots challenge to the nationalist premier.

Chinese giant CATL is pouring 7.3 billion euros ($7.8 billion) into building a lithium-ion EV battery plant, under a deal announced in August.

Rancorous public hearings followed in January, with angry locals confronting officials over worries about the giga-factory's demands for water and energy, and pollution risks.

"Our most basic need is clean water, clean air and healthy land, not batteries," said protest co-organiser Julia Perge, a 56-year-old civil activist.

Alarm and resistance only grew after last summer's drought, which dried up a lake near the city, a longtime stronghold of Orban's ruling Fidesz party.

Hungary has more than 20 EV battery plant projects under way and hopes to become the EU's second biggest producer in GWh (gigawatt per hour) terms by 2030 behind Germany.

Some of these other sites, too, have been targeted by protesters voicing similar environmental fears.

- 'Decisive' for future -

The government drive is in line with priorities of the European Union, which aims to produce a quarter of the world's batteries by 2030, compared to just three percent in 2020.

The CATL 100GWh factory in Debrecen will reportedly produce enough to power more than a million new cars annually. It is expected to employ 9,000 workers.

The project also tallies with Orban's longstanding policy to look East -- offering lucrative tax breaks, infrastructure and job creation subsidies to lure Asian factories.

It is a pillar of his overall economic strategy -- dubbed Orbanomics by analysts -- but Hungary’s economic performance is sliding, hit by record inflation which is among the highest in the EU and a weakening local currency.

Defending the new Chinese factory on the same day as a protest last weekend, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stressed there was "huge competition" to attract such investment.

"This will be the decisive industrial sector of the future, economic growth will go where these (EV) investments go," he said.

German carmakers Audi and Mercedes already have plants in Hungary and have been switching their focus to electric vehicles, while BMW recently also chose Debrecen for a two-billion-euro EV plant.

- 'Strictest environmental rules' -

With placards reading "Without water, there is no life!", hundreds of flag-waving protesters filled Debrecen's main square on Saturday demanding a halt to the plant.

"People living here were not properly informed, or asked if they wanted this," software engineer Gabor Bogos, 42, complained.

CATL told AFP it was "open for questions and comments" from the local community.

In an emailed comment, it said that it "strives to become a partner in the sustainable development of Debrecen and the wider region".

The government expects the factory to comply with the "strictest possible environmental protection rules", Orban's chief of staff Gergely Gulyas told reporters on Thursday.

He said that many of the protesters' concerns were "based on fake news about the factory".

- 'False' promise -

The promise of new jobs resulting from the factories has also been met with scepticism.

Analysts say they will likely be filled by migrant workers from Asia due to a local labour shortage, as has happened at other new plants.

"The promise that young people will stay local with the construction of factories is false," said professor Dora Gyorffy at Budapest's Corvinus economic university.

State support should be directed at Hungary's crumbling education, social care and health sectors, she said.

Such plants "are not only environmentally destructive, but also do not help economic catch-up" as Hungary itself does not develop batteries, she told AFP.

But few believe the protest will stop the construction -- or that it will grow into a wider wave of discontent against Orban.

"An objection to a particular local issue cannot be easily transformed into a general objection to the government nationally," political analyst Bulcsu Hunyadi said.

M.Jelinek--TPP