The European steel sector is in crisis. Thyssenkrupp announces thousands of layoffs.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on the European Commission (EC) to consider additional measures to protect the European steel industry from unfair competition. In a meeting with industry representatives, he also suggested that an EU steel summit be held in the near future. TASR informs about it based on the report of the DPA agency.
In cases where dumping and unfair subsidies harm competition, the EC must act decisively, said Scholz’s spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. Important tools to support the steel industry should remain in place or be expanded, according to the chancellor, which is the position the government in Berlin interpreted to the Commission, the spokesman added.
Huge subsidy in the game
The European steel sector is in crisis. The largest German steel company Thyssenkrupp announced at the end of November that it plans to reduce the number of jobs from the current 27,000 to 16,000 by the end of 2030.
Last week, the lower chamber of the German parliament (Bundestag) began debating a bill that would require transmission system operators to receive a subsidy totaling 1.32 billion euros next year and use it to reduce network charges for electricity for companies.
In the meantime, Scholz’s government has lost its majority in the Bundestag, and the main opposition conservative CDU/CSU bloc has made it clear that it considers the proposal insufficient and will not support it. The Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie) also called the aid in the proposed volume too low.
