EUROFER urged to support the proposal for the European Steel Pact

The European Steel Association (EUROFER) called on the EC to support the proposal of the German delegation of the European People’s Party (EPP) for the European Steel Pact and the industrial agreement. This is stated in the message of the association.

EUROFER expects that EC President Ursula von der Leyen will support the initiative to create an alliance of EU institutions and key member states, led by an experienced and recognized politician to ensure the environmental transition of the sector.

«The clean transition dialogue on steel initiated by the EC in April was the right start. Now the group at the highest level, which will include individual MEPs from the largest political families, should develop a clear set of measures that should be implemented as soon as possible,» said Axel Eggert, CEO of EUROFER.

European metallurgy has consistently advocated immediate action to address excess capacity and unfair trade practices, ensure access to competitive clean energy, as well as basic raw materials such as scrap. In addition, it is about creating leading markets for green products of European production, the inviolability of the CBAM mechanism, the better use of financing tools to support environmental investments.

«Addressing these challenges immediately is critical to maintaining steel production in Europe and its global leadership in clean technology. Europe can only be stronger with European steel. We hope that EC President Ursula von der Leyen will take into account the proposal for the European Steel Pact put forward by MEPs from the CDU Ehler and Radtke and integrate it into the priorities of the new EU legislative cycle,» said Axel Eggert.

The position paper was made public on July 10, 2024. As Christian Ehler (CDU), spokesman for the EPP Industrial Policy Group, noted, Europe should be able to make the business model of environmental steel competitive in its own market. Since energy prices outside the region will remain lower in the foreseeable future, he said, concrete measures should be taken to strengthen and maintain metallurgy as one of the key sectors. In particular, this includes the fight against high energy prices by completing the creation of the Energy Union, or measures to strengthen the demand for raw materials «Made in Europe.»

Recall that the creation of conditions for the decarbonization of metallurgy should become an EU priority, according to EUROFER. The industry is currently facing high energy prices and global overcapacity.