Kratky Demands House Committee Session Over Surany Battery Plant

Bratislava, 14 July (TASR) - The opposition 'Slovakia' party is demanding an extraordinary session of the House committee for agriculture and environment over the the battery factory project in Surany (Nitra region), with party MP Rasislav Kratky stating at Monday's press conference that the project does not meet basic EU standards, violates the law and poses an ecological threat to the region and its inhabitants. Kratky wants the committee MPs to meet on Wednesday, 16 July. „I don't know whether they're trying to fool [Environemnt Minister Tomas] Taraba [a Slovak National party/SNS nominee] or the ministry officials (...) This is an attempt to commit fraud,“ the MP stated, adding that there are currently two main documents concerning this project. One is the technical report and the other is the document for the Environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. The opposition MP pointed to the fact that the amount of waste in the documents doesn't match. According to the him, the EIA document states over 8,000 tonnes of waste, however, the technical report refers to 75,000 tonnes. Kratky stated that based on the data from the technical report, the battery factory should be classified in a more stringent category of facilities and therefore be subjected to stricter inspections. The MP added that the data in the documents also don't match on a number of other issues. Kratky said that the Economy Ministry is purposely misleading and destroying the credibility of state institutions, adding that Taraba and Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) should present credible project documentation to the public. lin