Brussels, 20/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - In its third and final follow-up report on the restructuring of the steel industry in Romania, which it adopted on 16 September, the European Commission considers that the requirements formulated in the accession treaty (Bucharest joined the EU in 2007) regarding this industrial sector have been met.
Amongst other things, it concludes that: - the total restructuring aid granted to the beneficiary companies was within the maximum authorised levels; - the net reduction in capacity was achieved; - the restructuring criteria listed in appendix A to annex VII of the accession treaty (viability, productivity and cost reduction) were mostly achieved. The Commission describes the restructuring carried out during the transition period (2004-2008) as “acceptable”. Unfortunately, it notes, during the last year of restructuring, the global crisis hit the operations of the steel companies hard. A sharp drop in demand for steel products led to lower than anticipated performance indicators. Even so, the Commission states that the results obtained by the companies for the whole of the restructuring period (especially improvements in profitability) allowed them to face particularly difficult market conditions in 2008. The report also stresses that further efforts are still needed for the full achievement of sustainable viability, in order to allow the Romanian steel industry to face the uncertain future on the markets. This objective “can only be achieved in the long term by continuous implementation of the cost reduction strategies and the development of coherent strategies for the future”, the Commission states. The report is available at http: //eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM: 2010: 0476: FIN: EN: PDF. (O.L./transl.fl)