Tag: Fidesz Party

In Hungary, Voters Exposed the Limits of China’s Ties to Orban

Media Library

The gigantic Chinese lithium battery factory under construction for three years on the edge of Hungary’s second biggest city hasn’t started production yet. But it has already contributed to a political earthquake. As the biggest Chinese investment in Europe, the $8.5 billion project in the eastern city of Debrecen had been hailed by Hungary’s outgoing prime minister, Viktor Orban, as proof of the economic benefits of his close relations with China. Instead, the factory helped bring about his downfall. In the April 12 election, Mr. Orban’s Fidesz party lost all…

A Hungarian Town Seethes Over a Giant Chinese Battery Plant

Chin@Strategy

The small-town mayor, long a loyal foot soldier for Hungary’s governing party, recently committed what he described as “political suicide,” throwing himself in the path of an enormous $7.8 billion Chinese battery factory project promoted by his dissent-intolerant prime minister, Viktor Orban. “It is like lying in front of a steamroller,” Zoltan Timar, the mayor of Mikepercs, said of his decision to side with residents opposed to the project, which his Fidesz party championed. “I just hope it won’t roll over me too soon.” The factory, which would be the…