Opposition party slams plans of battery plant in Hungarian village

Opposition LMP is initiating that the local mayor call a referendum to ask residents in Alsózsolca, in northern Hungary, about the planned battery recycling plant by a Slovene investor, Erzsébet Schmuck, the party’s co-leader, said on Sunday.

The Hungarian foreign minister announced last week that Slovenia’s Andrada Group would build a battery recycling plant using “the world’s latest technology” in the town. He said that new plant would ensure that “electric batteries will be produced in Hungary without any impact on the environment … with the recycling of batteries also ensured.”

Schmuck told an online press conference that in Hungary “none of the localities can feel safe because of the government’s forging ahead with its large-scale plan of becoming a leading power in battery production”. She criticised the government for having neglected the opinion of local residents which she said should have been asked under an international treaty on the right of citizens to learn in advance about projects affecting their life and environment.