Brussels, 1106/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - The platform set in place last summer and headed up by Commissioners Tajani and Andor will submit its conclusions ahead of a strategy promised for next June. At the European Parliament, the Greens are already describing the future recommendations as “scandalous”.
The high-level roundtable on the future of the steel industry in Europe, which was set in place in July 2012 and met for the first time in September 2012 (see EUROPE 10693), is to adopt recommendations to support the competitiveness of the steel industry at its second meeting, in Brussels on Tuesday 12 February. The Commission will use these recommendations as a basis for its action plan, which will be presented in June of this year. The anticipated conclusions will focus on trade, raw materials, the costs of legislation, energy and the environment, climate change, jobs and R&D.
Among the representatives of the 16 member states taking part in the roundtable (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, the United Kingdom, Slovakia and Sweden), four ministers will be taking part in the work alongside Commissioners Antonio Tajani (Industry and Enterprise) and Laszlo Andor (Social Affairs): Arnaud Montebourg of France, Luxembourg's Étienne Schneider, the Wallonian Jean-Claude Marcourt for Belgium, and the Austrian Reinhold Mitterlehner. The industry's side of the table will include representatives of the European Association Eurofer and of the Italian Federation Federacciai, and of the businesses Acerinox, ThyssenKrupp, Celsa Group, Salzgitter AG, ArcelorMittal, Arvedi, Ruukki, Aperam, Tenaris and Gruppo Riva. Representatives of the steel unions will also be present, as will representatives of the European Parliament, in the person of Pervenche Berès (S&D, France) and a member of the cabinet of the chair of the committee on industry of the European Parliament, Amalia Sartori (EPP, Italy).
Readers may recall that the vice-president of the Commission, Antonio Tajani, was in Strasbourg on 6 February for talks with a delegation of unionists representing the employees of the steel group ArcelorMittal, who had travelled from a number of European countries to present the Commission and MEPs meeting for their plenary session with their demands, following the announcement at the end of January of the closure of some of ArcelorMittal's mills in Liège, which will lead to the loss of 1,300 jobs. This meeting came two days after a fierce debate at the Parliament on the recovery of European industry, where Tajani was taxed with a lack of initiative on the part of the European executive over the Mittal strategy.
Greens up in arms. Ahead of the meeting of 12 February, the Greens/EFA Group at the European Parliament spoke out on Friday about the anticipated draft text, containing recommendations which, they feel, “go against” the expectations of ArcelorMittal's employees in favour of a European action to stop restructuring activities and see steel plants and states enter into competition. “Like the Greens, they take the view today that the steel industry must build its future and competitiveness on sustainability, innovation, low carbon consumption and sectors where demand for high added-value steel is set to increase. The development of wind power and technologically innovative products such as steel sheets for cars incorporating photovoltaics or metal construction are solutions which give our steel industry long-term prospects”, argued MEPs Yannick Jadot (France), Philippe Lamberts (Belgium) and Claude Turmes (Luxembourg), in a press release. “Commissioner Tajani's response goes in the opposite direction. It validates Mittal's strategy of facilitating the racket of European funds with nothing in return, breaking innovation and modernisation policies and organising social, environmental and fiscal deregulation to satisfy the financial appetite of the group. In fact, Commissioner Tajani is making use of the crisis in the steel industry to strike another blow against the EU climate policy, of which Mittal is a scandalous beneficiary”, state the Green MEPs, who are urging a moratorium on the closure of steel plants. (EH/transl.fl)