Brussels, 15/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for the Single Market and Industry, Elzbieta Bienkowska, believes that the local and regional authorities have an important part to play in the steel crisis. In a speech at the plenary session of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), on Wednesday 15 June, she proposed using the structural and investment funds (ESI fund) to shore up this sector, in particular to support research.
The proposal could be an interesting one, a Committee source told us, but only if the ESI funds are used for long-term investments, particularly in research. This will make it possible for the industry to create new products and promote more environmentally friendly production. Focusing on added value in order to face unfair Chinese competition will be the only way to ride out the crisis, the source added, going on to stress that the ESI fund had not been created to respond to economic crises, but to structural challenges.
Bienkowska also said that the member states should make use of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financial arm of the Juncker investment plan, in the industrial sector as well. “The EFSI is not there simply to finance infrastructure”, she added, going on to state that it was also possible to use loans from the European Investment Bank. Isole Ries (S&D, Germany), rapporteur of the opinion on the steel-sector crisis on behalf of the CoR, however, takes the view that the EFSI has limited potential for the steel sector, “as market conditions cannot guarantee an adequate return on investment with the currently low-level steel prices”.
This was echoed by MEP Edouard Martin (S&D, France), author of a report on the steel sector (see EUROPE 11455), who also took the floor on the issue during the plenary session of the CoR. “The proposal may be useful to support investments, but it will not save the steel industry if we recognise China's market economy status and if we do not tighten up our trade defence instruments”, he told us. He added that the Juncker plan has not really been used for research to date. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)