Commissioner for Environment Jessika Roswall, in a written answer on 3 July 2026, declined to take enforcement action over the Gotion InoBat battery plant project in Šurany, Slovakia, despite MEPs' allegations of manipulated environmental data and non-transparent permitting. Roswall stressed that primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with EU environmental legislation lies with national authorities, and that individual cases of possible non-compliance are best addressed through legal remedies available at the Member State level.
The answer responds to a parliamentary question from MEPs Miriam Lexmann (EPP) and Tomáš Zdechovský (EPP), who had raised concerns that the project's environmental impact assessment (EIA) documentation was amended to reduce the reported concentration of the toxic substance NMP from five milligrams per cubic metre to one milligram per cubic metre, without any change in technology or production volume. The MEPs described this as manipulation and deliberate circumvention of legal requirements, and asked whether the Commission would communicate with the Slovak government over potential breaches of EU law.
Roswall's answer contains no concrete proposals, numerical targets, or deadlines. It is limited to a declarative restatement of the Commission's general enforcement policy, which prioritises systemic non-compliance over individual cases. The Commissioner pointed to the review procedure under the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive (2011/92/EU), which allows the public concerned to challenge the substantive or procedural legality of decisions before national courts.
The policy orientation is one of deference to Member State competence and judicial remedies, signalling that the Commission does not intend to open an infringement procedure or engage bilaterally with Slovakia on this specific project. No institutional follow-up is indicated beyond the existing national legal channels.
The answer leaves the Slovak government and the investor (Gotion InoBat) free to proceed under the current permit, while local residents and environmental NGOs must rely on national litigation to challenge the EIA process. The Commission's hands-off approach may be seen as prioritising investment certainty over environmental scrutiny, but it also avoids direct confrontation with a Member State over a single project.