Thousands of Turkish, Pakistani guest workers will swarm Debrecen?

Based on information from the locals, the new BMW plant of Debrecen will employ thousands of Turkish, Pakistani and other guest workers. Zsolt Gondola, a counsellor of an NGO, Civilian Forum Association (Civil Fórum Egyesület), thousands of guest workers will come and live temporarily in a container city. The Fidesz-KDNP leadership of the Hungarian municipality and opposition local council members are already battling with each other on the issue.

As we wrote before, BMW’s Debrecen plant will be the world’s first, running fossil-free. The construction costs almost 1 billion euros, and the work began this June. Based on the plans, the first electric BMW cars manufactured there will roll off the production line in 2024. However, it seems that the workers in the factory will not be Hungarians. Local news websites said thousands of Turkish and Pakistani employees would arrive in the second biggest city of Hungary soon, index.hu wrote.

A local opposition councillor, Zsolt Gondola, raised the question during the regular session of the local council. He asked how the Fidesz leadership of the city prepares for the thousands of guest workers. Zoltán Varga, an MP of the Democratic Coalition, criticised the project because the government’s original promises were about creating new workplaces for Hungarians.

“Now we hear they want to bring here two thousand Pakistani, Turkish and other guest workers. They will be placed in a container city, without public security, public healthcare, education, etc”, he added.

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László Papp highlighted that the opposition emphasised the importance of social inclusion before. Now they are speaking against foreigners arriving in the city. He added that there would be no problem with the guest workers or public security.

Mr. Papp is very proud of BMW’s investment in Debrecen. He said that his city would become an international and European centre of the most modern vehicles. He added that the working capital flowing into Debrecen reached EUR 10 billion. Based on the plans, the project will create more than 1,000 workplaces, and 150,000 new vehicles will be manufactured there every year. Moreover, the plant will start producing a brand new, fully electric car in 2025.