Debrecen4U June 26, 2026

Residents Call for Dialogue Between Government and Municipality on Battery Industry Issues in Debrecen

On Wednesday, the environmental authority suspended the activities of Semcorp after samples taken from monitoring wells, the stormwater drainage system and a storage reservoir showed exceedances of legal limits for metals and metalloids. On Thursday evening, Semcorp issued a statement in response, claiming that a significant proportion of the reported pollutants—particularly heavy metals—are not part of its separator manufacturing process, as the product is primarily polymer-based.

At yesterday’s city council meeting, a public question was submitted to the Debrecen Professional Fire Brigade regarding the case. Éva Kozma, President of the Mikepércs Mothers for the Environment Association (MIAKÖ), said that, according to publicly available information, the factory reportedly did not have sufficient firefighting foam available for six days and asked how such a situation could occur at a facility classified as high risk. An official from the fire brigade stated that the competent authority in the matter is the county government office.

In another public contribution, it was suggested that there should be cooperation between the municipality and MPs for Debrecen regarding battery factories. Zsolt Lukács argued that these plants can no longer be shut down due to their significance for national economy and stricter sanctions and industrial authority oversight alone are not sufficient to ensure compliance with regulations.

He proposed that the municipality, government representatives, State Secretary Zsolt Tárkányi, and MP László Csák jointly initiate the establishment of a battery industry, social and environmental council. This body could include affected municipalities, government representatives, the Chamber of Engineers, industry actors and non-governmental organisations, he said.

In his response, Mayor László Papp said that several of the proposals raised were indeed worth considering. He noted that a few weeks earlier he had initiated a consultation on issues affecting the city with State Secretary Zsolt Tárkányi and Minister Dávid Vitézy, but had not yet received a response. The mayor expressed hope that such a meeting would take place, allowing substantive discussions on the issues raised.

According to László Papp, it would be very important to establish dialogue between the municipality, government bodies and the relevant Members of Parliament, not only on battery industry issues but on all matters affecting the city. He also drew attention to a website operated by the city that contains relevant information about Debrecen’s battery factories. The mayor noted that the new government had made an election pledge to create a new regulatory institutional structure for the battery industry. He added that there had not yet been sufficient time for this in recent weeks, but he is confident that it is both necessary and appropriate. If there is government intent, the municipality is fully prepared to cooperate, he stated.

Source and photo credit: dehir.hu