LMP calls on agriculture minister to halt Lake Fertő investment

The co-leader of the opposition LMP party on Tuesday called on Agriculture Minister István Nagy to halt the construction of a hotel in a protected area on Lake Fertő, in northwest Hungary, or tender his resignation.

Erzsébet Schmuck told an online press conference that the construction of a hotel, partly on the water itself, has been criticised by domestic and foreign NGOs, the European Union’s Directorate-General for Environment, UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, and the International Centre on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). The EU has already launched a procedure against Hungary for ignoring guidelines of its directive on natural habitats, Schmuck said.

Schmuck slammed the minister for dismissing critiques as “politically motivated opposition” in a Facebook video.

With the construction, the state “is setting a precedent on circumventing regulations regarding constructions on our natural waters,” Schmuck said.

The 30 billion forint (EUR 84.3m)investment costs one-and-a-half times the annual budget of all nature parks in Hungary, she added.

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