For months, in eastern Hungary, residents have been mobilizing to abort the construction of a giant Chinese factory of electric batteries for vehicles.
In Debrecen, Hungary’s second largest city in terms of population, the future construction of Europe’s largest electric battery factory is taking a unique turn. A direction, which Prime Minister Viktor Orban probably did not expect, which has been done for years a specialty of welcoming with open arms the main German automotive groups in particular (but also Stellantis), with great blows of tax rebates, and thanks to organic wages kept very low by Hungary. An authoritarian strategy, whose stated ambition is to make Hungary by 2030, the second largest manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries in the EUbehind Germany.
unexpected revolt
The construction of this electric battery factory on the Old Continent by the Chinese giant CATL (for Contemporary Amperex Technology), therefore had to follow this same course, without any particular resistance from the Hungarian people. Missed, this colossal 7.3 billion euro project at the gates of Debrecen started in August 2022, has, on the contrary, provoked the ire of the inhabitants and associations of Debrecen. A population that is concerned in particular to see yet another factory of this type grow on its soil, pointing out its environmental impact, but also fearing that the jobs to be filled to build this factory will be given in majority to Chinese employees.
https://t.co/epPlFu2nVB
The opposition LMP and Democratic Coalition parties have called on the government to put a freeze on battery plant investments#Hungary #LMP #DK #Better #CATL #battery #plant #investment— Daily News Hungary (@DNewsHungary) 10 February 2023
Need clean air
So, environmental activists are stepping up opposition actions and demonstrations at this mega-factorywhich should come out of the ground within three years, and whose potential is indeed making you dizzy: with an annual capacity of 100 gigawatt hours (GWh), this site could thus supply lithium-ion batteries for one to two million electric cars per year, far ahead of other European sites. A particularly greedy ogre in energy and water, not to mention the dreaded spills of toxic substances in the ground and groundwater. Contacted by AFP, the CATL group said it was “open to questions and comments from the local community”, assuring its efforts for the “sustainable development” of Debrecen. As for Julia Perge, co-organizer of the last demonstration against the establishment of this factory, she soberly commented: “It’s clean water and clean air that we need, not batteries.”