Budapest to become dump site for Chinese hazardous chemicals?

Budapest should not become a “dump site” for Chinese hazardous chemicals, Gergely Karácsony, the city’s mayor, said on Tuesday.

Addressing a news conference, Karácsony said the city council had learned from press reports earlier in the day that “the Hungarian government and its Chinese partners want to bring the most important base of dangerous chemical substances needed for European battery production to Budapest“.

He said they wanted to supply “the Chinese battery plants across Hungary and Europe with hazardous materials that could pose a very serious risk to local residents in the event of a disaster”.

“Budapest cannot be a dump site for hazardous chemicals!” Karácsony posted on Facebook:

“This is directly at odds with the plans we want to implement in Budapest and … with what Budapest residents and those in the Soroksár district want,” the mayor said.

He said the government had not informed the city council of the matter in any way, adding that information indicating that the government wanted to “close this deal in September” was well-founded.

Karácsony said that as mayor he had to do everything in his power to “make sure this plan isn’t carried out”. He said he intended to get the matter be put on the agenda of Wednesday’s city assembly meeting.

The mayor said the government was eyeing an undeveloped area in the 23rd southern Budapest district of Soroksár for the project.