Socialists to submit proposal on battery plants to legislative committee

Addressing an online news conference after a meeting of the sustainable development committee, Socialist Party group leader Bertalan Toth noted that under his party’s proposal, the construction of battery plants built within 12km of a settlement would require the consent of residents in a local referendum.

Also, the investor and operator would have to adhere to environmental protection and occupational health and safety regulations, he said. The proposal would also limit the construction of such plants to farmland with a maximum golden crown value of 25, he added.

“We won’t stop; we’re going before the legislative committee because we want parliament to at least put the issue on the agenda so that it could be debated,” Toth said.

Balazs Pollreisz, a Socialist councillor in Gyor, in north-western Hungary, said it was “outrageous” that the legislative committee had not heard him out. He added, at the same time, that he was certain that the residents of Gyor would collect the required number of signatures needed to initaite a referendum on the planned construction of a battery plant there.