Chinese companies are investing massively in Hungary.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Wow, there's quite a lot going on here.
00:03Everywhere in Europe, battery factories are being built for electric cars.
00:08In order to stop climate change, no more fossil fuels should be burned.
00:12The scientists are clearly in agreement.
00:14The future belongs to the electric car.
00:21The carbon dioxide from the exhaust gases remains in the atmosphere and thus strengthens the greenhouse effect.
00:26The earth continues to heat up.
00:29Therefore, from 2035, no more new cars with combustion engines are allowed to be sold in the European Union.
00:36Even if the combustion lobby is still trying to change this decision, it has been unsuccessful so far.
00:42The electric cars are coming soon.
00:44But many millions of electric cars need many millions of large batteries.
00:50So far, the world market for batteries is dominated by China.
00:53In order to avoid a complete dependence on China, Europe is trying to massively expand its battery production.
01:00Gigantic factories are being built all over the continent.
01:03By 2030, there could be a production capacity of 1.7 terawatt hours in Europe.
01:10This could mean toasting 68 billion slices of bread or seeing non-stop Euro news for two million years.
01:18Since 2024, the new battery regulation applies to all member states of the EU.
01:23The goal is a real circular economy.
01:26More and more valuable raw materials are being taken out of the old batteries and reused.
01:32In 2027, batteries receive a QR code.
01:36This digital battery pass informs about reusable critical raw materials.
01:42With over 2 billion Euro subsidies, Hungary is trying to get battery factories into the country.
01:50Hungary is rolling out the red carpet.
01:52Chinese electric cars and Chinese batteries will soon be produced here in Hungary.
01:57Geopolitically, this could be a risky strategy.
02:00On the outskirts of Hungary's second largest city, Debrecen, the largest battery factory in Europe will soon take over production.
02:12The Chinese world market leader CATL is investing over 7 billion Euro here.
02:17And the government in Budapest is spending 800 million Euro on subsidies.
02:23Hungary is getting battery factories for electric cars into the country with massive state aid.
02:29Now Chinese investors are also coming.
02:31What do the people here in Debrecen think about it?
02:33I'll hear about it.
02:36The factory is splitting the city.
02:38At a press conference, I get to know Martin Fayez.
02:41The photographer thinks the investment is good.
02:43Today, he is taking photos of Jason Chen, the European leader of the Chinese battery giant.
02:47Chen rarely gives interviews.
02:49For Euro news, he is making an exception.
02:59The majority job created is for local people.
03:03By the end of next year, probably there will be 2,000 people.
03:07Battery production needs a lot of water.
03:10So how do you handle this problem about water consumption in a country which is drying out?
03:16We have developed a water saving technology for the cooling tower.
03:21And also we agree to use the grey water, so a lot of water will be saved.
03:27Many people used to emigrate.
03:29But a lot has changed since the 100th anniversary.
03:32That's why people like Martin are happy about investors, no matter where they come from.
03:36In the last 20 years, a lot of new jobs have been created.
03:41Thanks to this, young people who study here can stay here.
03:45And those who left Debrecen can come back to these jobs.
03:49Laszlo is not satisfied. He is angry.
03:59He grows cabbage, onions, beans and peppers on his 4 hectare field.
04:04This is the end. The industrial park needs space. The family has to leave.
04:09The future is hopeless for them.
04:12We are almost depressed because of this.
04:16We are living from a pesticide-free agriculture.
04:19And the factories are polluting a lot.
04:22So we will not produce for the future.
04:28Laszlo's mother greets Eva Kosma in the kitchen.
04:31Eva heads a neighborhood association, which pays attention to the environmental risks of battery production.
04:37Nickel, cobalt, manganese, lithium, organic solvents such as NMP,
04:43these have to be filled up.
04:46Everyone will get sick here. We have to move.
04:49So we are quite depressed.
04:52And this incompetence, I feel it.
05:00Eva takes me to the community center.
05:03Together with a member of the association Vera, she manufactures protesters for the Christmas market.
05:08Both have three children and are worried about their future.
05:12We are afraid that there will not be enough water.
05:16Because these factories use huge amounts of water.
05:21Only in the first phase of CETL will there be 47 chemicals.
05:26And NMP will come out of three, which is a pest control.
05:33No combustion engines, no electric cars.
05:36This is a challenge for the European Union.
05:39Just because of the battery technology.
05:42In the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, I have an appointment with Andrea Eltetö.
05:46She sees Chinese battery investments in Europe as critical.
05:51Yes, everywhere in Europe, battery factories are created.
05:54Also in Hungary. I have talked to many Hungarians.
05:57They also have questions about CETL.
06:00Good afternoon.
06:02First question from the ground.
06:04Why does Hungary need CETL when there is no water, no energy, no fuel?
06:13The government proposes for Hungary to be a giant superpower of battery making.
06:19I think it's mainly a political decision.
06:22So it's beyond economic rationality.
06:25We are in a green transition.
06:28We are in a green transition.
06:30We are looking for electric vehicles and we need batteries.
06:33So is this good news or bad news, this Chinese investment?
06:37So the problem is the very high quantity of state aid the Hungarian government provides to these companies.
06:44Around 2 billion euros.
06:46And at the same time there is no money for health care, education or railway.
06:52Hungary is still depending on Russian oil and Russian gas.
06:56And we are building up here in Hungary an industry which is consuming a lot of energy.
07:01Isn't there a kind of geopolitical risk?
07:04This whole industry would need one quarter of the whole electricity consumption of Hungary.
07:11So Hungary now creates a kind of multiple dependence.
07:15Because regarding the energy, it depends from Russia.
07:19And with these lots of Chinese factories, the dependence from China is also taking place.
07:25The Hungarian government wants to be a kind of global player in this geopolitical game.
07:30But for Hungary it doesn't mean a larger independence, but it means a more deeper dependence.
07:38Even today, China uses its trading power as a means of pressure.
07:42Companies have been instructed to invest only in such EU countries
07:46which reject protection fees against Chinese cheap imports.