“They have changed their minds, they will not stop production permanently, they will not fire people, and they will use all possible legal options to save Nitrogenmovic,” said company CEO Laszlo Pije. For RTL News He gave an exclusive interview.
In response to Antal Rogan’s statement, he said: The minister did not put himself in the picture on this issue, and they did not stop production due to the rise in energy prices. The Minister talked about how special taxes affect everyone, but Laszlo Pije has no problem with special taxes related to energy prices.
In addition to the special tax, they also received a tax burden of six billion: the Hungarian Carbon Storage Association fee, which was seen as controllable in the past, but not anymore. Until now, this amount was between 700 and 800 million HUF per year, but it has been increased to 6 billion HUF.
Nitrogénművek is one of the most modern fertilizer plants in Europe and is owned by Hungarians, László Begé said.
The carbon tax is the reason we made this decision. It’s just a matter of taking our money by decree and giving certain constituencies access to the nitrogen business, which they’ve wanted for a long time. It’s not about anything else
– said Laszlo Page.
He stated that they had previously written to the minister, but they changed their minds: they would not stop production permanently. Instead he said:
We will fight for this, because taxing ETS is illegal, against the law, and that is the opinion of our lawyers. We will go to all the legal forums in Europe and Hungary that we have the opportunity to do.
He stressed that the company finds itself in an impossible position in front of its competitors. The Hungarian special tax makes fertilizer production more expensive by about 20,000 Hungarian forints per ton, which the owner says is unaffordable. But they don’t want to, because they believe it is illegal because it could violate EU regulations on carbon dioxide quotas.
It also turns out that they will not let their people go, and will fight in every legal forum to restore the legal system. According to him, they were preparing to downsize the group, but had not submitted the papers. According to the manager, production at the nitrogen plant will definitely not start again this year, however
We do not go to the slaughterhouse empty-handed, nor do we give up on ourselves
He said.
