Hungary opposes Slovak power plant

In an unusual concurrence, both Fidesz and Environment Minister Gábor Fodor have agreed to reject a Slovak plan to build a power plant at Tőketerebes.

Fodor, a member of Fidesz himself until 1993, replied to about 30 NGOs, civilians and mayors that his ministry "is doing all it can to assert Hungarian interests in the matter of the proposed coal-fired power plant."

Meanwhile a petition to the ambassador at the Slovak embassy in Budapest, which asked Bratislava to halt the construction of the planned power plant, was presented by Fidesz MPs Ildikó Gáll Pelcz, Zoltán Illés and László Koszorús on Wednesday. The east Slovak municipality's local authority rejected the project a week ago, but that in itself will be insufficient to prevent it going ahead.

Koszorús said "as Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány has not backed ethnic Hungarian student Hedvig Malina, the girl who was assaulted in Slovakia, it is obvious that Slovaks think that they can do anything to Hungary."

The power plant is planned to be built some 18km from the Hungarian border, and would produce twice as much energy as the nuclear plant in Paks. Slovak and Hungarian environmentalists have both protested against the planned investment project.

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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