There are serious problems with battery makers in Hungary

Battery makers should be made to operate in compliance with strict environmental protection rules, a green lawmaker said on Thursday, noting that LMP submitted three related proposals to parliament, but the legislative committee withheld them from the agenda as governing MPs voted them down.

LMP proposed fining plants in breach of their obligations in proportion to the company’s profits and companies that fail to comply with environmental protection rules should pay back the multi-billion state aid, László Lóránt Keresztes, chairman of the parliament’s sustainable development committee, told an online press briefing. Further, LMP also wanted battery plants to regularly monitor air, water and noise pollution and publish the results.

He said local people should also have a say in whether giga factories should be built or not, adding that the government had sided with foreign investors by rejecting LMP’s proposals.