Environmentalists convince Defence Ministry not to build radar station on Hungary's Zengo peak

NATO

Hungary's environmentalists seem to have won a war with NATO. It seems certain now that a new military radar station will not be built in a protected area on top of Hungary's Zengo Mountain. The North Atlantic Treaty organisation argued the mountain was the best place for their radar but Greenpeace and others have protested, arguing it has been declared a sensitive and protected natural area. The defence ministry is now looking at other locations.

Radio Budapest spoke to the head of Green Peace in Budapest Roland Csaky:

"There are three or four possible places in Hungary, which are technically good options for the radar station and some of them are also acceptable from the environmental point of view. So it doesn't have to be built on a nature-protected area."

And the spot around Bekescsaba, is it appropriate?

"The radar station near the town of Bekescsaba is almost finished. It is being built on land that used to be used for agriculture and that is technically and environmentally a good option. The third places in Hungary that we have been talking about may be near a national park but is the site of a former radar station so this would not destroy any new areas."

The Defence Ministry says if the radar station is to be built at another location, the extra costs will have to be covered by Hungary instead of NATO...

"This is a financial discussion between NATO and the Hungarian Army. I don't think that the environment should be less important than money. It should be the other way round."

What is so special about Zengo, why have you been trying to protect it?

"Zengo is one of the last untouched areas in Hungary. In Hungary, there aren't that many mountains and any mountain has flora and fauna that are special. That is why we have to protect them. On Zengo there are 19 different protected species of flowers, one of which is the rose-type 'banatica' that out of all places around the world can only be found there."