• Home
• Channel: Current Affairs
• Gov't Plan For Budapest To Become 'Dump Site' For Chinese Hazardous Chemicals Opposed by Mayor

Gov't Plan For Budapest To Become 'Dump Site' For Chinese Hazardous Chemicals Opposed by Mayor

• 28 Jun 2023 10:26 AM
• Hungary Matters

Budapest should not become a “dump site” for Chinese hazardous chemicals, Gergely Karácsony, the city’s mayor said.

Addressing a news conference, Karácsony said the city council had learned from press reports earlier in the day that “the Hungarian government and its Chinese partners want to bring the most important base of dangerous chemical substances needed for European battery production to Budapest”.

He said they wanted to supply “the Chinese battery plants across Hungary and Europe with hazardous materials that could pose a very serious risk to local residents in the event of a disaster”.

“This is directly at odds with the plans we want to implement in Budapest and … with what Budapest residents and those in the Soroksár district want,” the mayor said.



He said the government had not informed the city council of the matter in any way, adding that information indicating that the government wanted to “close this deal in September” was well-founded.

Karácsony said that as mayor he had to do everything in his power to “make sure this plan isn’t carried out”. He said he intended for the matter to be put on the agenda of Wednesday’s city assembly meeting.

The mayor said the government was eyeing an undeveloped area in the 23rd southern Budapest district of Soroksár for the project.

Related links

Will Hungary Become China's 'Battery Colony'?

Building Battery Plants Would Require Residents' Approval, Says Budapest Assembly

• How does this content make you feel?
• I love it
• I like it
• I dislike it

• Dump Site Budapest Mayor

XpatLoop Media Partner

Hungary Matters

Launched in January 2014, this newsletter published on week days covers 'everything you need to know about what’s going on in Hungary and beyond', according to its publisher the state media agency MTI.

Explore More Reports

Updated: 'Budapest Will Not Kneel', Says Mayor to Gov't

• 4 Dec 2025 12:00 PM

At a "Budapest Pride March 2.0" rally outside the Carmelite Monastery, the prime minister's office, Gergely Karacsony, the mayor of Budapest, vowed the city would "not kneel", as he handed the City Assembly's resolution on its "real financial crisis" to a government representative.



Budget Crisis Threatens Budapest’s Public Services, City Hall Rejects Insolvency Ultimatum

• 2 Dec 2025 6:15 AM

The financial stability of Budapest is currently at the centre of a fierce political standoff between the City Assembly and the national government. The dispute intensified this week after Mayor Gergely Karácsony and the city administration rejected a government proposal to declare the capital insolvent, an act the government had framed as a prerequisite for offering financial aid.



'Budapest Pride 2.0' on Monday at Clark Adam Square Called for by Mayor

• 28 Nov 2025 8:34 AM

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony announced on Thursday that he had convened an extraordinary assembly for Monday to reaffirm the "true financial situation" of the municipality. The decision will later be delivered to the Prime Minister’s Office in Buda Castle during a demonstration, he told a press conference.



Mayor Asks PM for Cooperation to Keep Budapest's Basic Public Services Functioning

• 26 Nov 2025 6:24 AM

Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest, on Tuesday said he has written a letter to the prime minister requesting the government's cooperation in the interest of keeping the capital functioning.