Chinese firms in Hungary face a post-election reckoning – no matter who wins

Travellers stepping out of the railway station at Hungary’s second-biggest city, Debrecen, are immediately greeted by a banner hanging over the street that reads “No battery, no deal”, “Debrecen belongs to Hungarians” and “Chinese, go home”.Ahead of the elections, battery companies have increasingly become a symbol for opposition parties to criticise what they view as the Hungarian government’s poor decisions, according to a CATL representative in Debrecen.The banner was put up by the local candidate from Jobbik, a small conservative party, formerly far-right, with little chance of winning. But it highlights how deeply Chinese business interests have become entangled with Hungarian politics, with the country attracting billions of US dollars of Chinese investment in recent years.The scene in Debrecen is an extreme case, but it is not an isolated one. Across Hungary, the approaching vote has sent ripples through the country’s Chinese business community, with debates sprouting up over how to brace for the potential defeat of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party and the first change of power they have seen.Some worry the Brussels-friendly Tisza Party – which has been leading in opinion polls ahead of the election – would saddle them with EU red tape or seize their factories as it unpicked deals struck with Orban’s government, which has been in power since 2010. Others have urged calm, saying Tisza’s tone had been measured so far, and policies were bound to change regardless.