“Hungary threatens clampdown on EV battery industry after pollution case”

Hungarian Environment Minister Laszlo Gajdos has threatened to close factories in the EV battery industry that fail to abide by environmental regulations.

[...] environmental, health and safety concerns around the plants surfaced as a key issue ahead of the election, where centre-right rival Peter Magyar, who pledged to take a tougher stance on the sector, defeated Orban

[...] "We must restore the balance between industrial development and environmental protection," Gajdos said [...] "In the past 16 years, this balance has entirely tilted over in favour of industry." "Those repeatedly violating regulations, jeopardising the health and safety of Hungarian people and ignoring Hungarian laws have no place in Hungary," he said, promising to raise pollution fines [...]

[The] mayor of Debrecen [...] called on Chinese battery parts maker Semcorp to leave [...] due to recent findings of environmental pollution. The regional government office suspended Semcorp's production licence [...] after authorities found large-scale aluminium pollution in water samples taken from monitoring wells around the plant.

Semcorp said it had launched a full-scale enquiry to determine the causes of the pollution.

Zsolt Tarkanyi, the Debrecen lawmaker of Magyar's Tisza party, said [...] the city mayor should resign after the revelations [...] Magyar [...] saying [the mayor] helped pave the way for large-scale EV battery projects in Debrecen [...] despite opposition by local residents.