Mikepércs
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Mikepércs | |
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 Coat of arms | |
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| Country |  Hungary |
| County | Hajdú-Bihar |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Timár Zoltán (Fidesz / KDNP) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 36.93 km2 (14.26 sq mi) |
| Population (2015) | |
| • Total | 3,520[1] |
| • Density | 121.3/km2 (314/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 4271 |
| Area code | 52 |
Mikepércs is a village in Hajdú-Bihar county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary.
Geography
[edit]It covers an area of 36.93 km2 (14 sq mi) and has a population of 4,480 people (2015).[1]
Economy
[edit]CATL battery factory
[edit]As part of Hungarian president Viktor Orbán's 2010 "Eastern Opening" policy of economic realignment towards China and Russia, on 12 August 2022, Chinese battery manufacturer CATL announced it would construct a USD$7.8 billion, 100 GWh battery factory on 221 hectares of land located in the Southern Economic Zone in Debrecen;[2] the project was hailed by Hungary's governing Fidesz party as the biggest foreign investment in the nation's history, and the factory would be the largest of its kind in Europe.[3]
However, residents began to protest as construction began, sparked in late 2022 by a street protest organised by a group of local women. At two public hearings regarding the project, townspeople started fights and shouted at government officials, calling them traitors — a reporter for local newspaper Debreciner described "hundreds of people yelling and fighting".[3] Mikepércs' mayor Timár Zoltán announced he was also opposed to the project, despite being a member of Fidesz himself; similarly, György Matolcsy, the governor of the Hungarian National Bank, also came out against the factory.[4]
Residents are concerned about pollution, property values, and unemployment. Zoltán told the New York Times that CATL had told him it was "too busy" to send a representative to a town-hall meeting.[3] In response, Fidesz has blamed George Soros for fomenting protests; Debrecen mayor László Papp blamed "fake information" for the locals' opposition.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Gazetteer of Hungary, 1 January 2015. Hungarian Central Statistical Office. 3 September 2015
- ^ "CATL announces its second European battery plant in Hungary". CATL. 12 August 2022.
- ^ a b c d Higgins, Andrew (15 March 2023). "A Hungarian Town Seethes Over a Giant Chinese Battery Plant". The New York Times.
- ^ Simon, Zoltan (20 January 2023). "Chinese Battery Plant Investment Faces Local Backlash in Hungary". Bloomberg.
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47°27′N 21°38′E / 47.450°N 21.633°E
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