EU agrees to crisis steel meeting
30 Oct 2015
EU ministers have agreed to hold an emergency meeting on the UK steel crisis following an appeal from business secretary Sajid Javid.
The meeting, due to take place within two weeks, was called after Javid met with EU commissioners in Brussels to discuss “severe pressures” on the steel sector.
Steelworkers from around the country travelled to Westminster this week to protest against recent job cuts and to call for political intervention to aid the industry.
The US approach has shown that where action is needed it is prepared to act quickly and decisively. The EU must now follow its lead and act in unison to tackle this issue as a matter of urgency
Gareth Stace, UKSteel director
Thousands of steel industry jobs were lost following the closure of SSI’s Redcar steelworks in Teesside, and 1,200 further cuts were recently announced at Tata Steel plants in Scunthorpe and Scotland.
Lower steel prices, high energy costs and the dumping of cheap steel by China, are some of the reasons being cited for the falling fortunes of the industry.
After taking his concerns directly to Brussels this week, Javid said that he had reached agreement that an emergency council would be held.
“I am determined this council leads to swift action, not just a talking shop,” he said.
“I want to see steel top of the EU agenda. We cannot stand by while the steel industry across Europe, not just in the UK, faces such unprecedented challenges.”
Gareth Stace, director of steel trade body, UKSteel, said: “This is a welcome move which recognises the severe pressures that both UK and European steelmakers are under from Chinese imports.
“The US approach has shown that where action is needed it is prepared to act quickly and decisively. The EU must now follow its lead and act in unison to tackle this issue as a matter of urgency.”
Prime minister David Cameron also announced this week that he was expecting to be granted state-aid approval from the EU to provide relief to energy intensive industries such as steel from the cost of renewables policy.
”We will refund the energy-intensive industry for the full amount of the policy cost they face as soon as we get the state aid judgment from Brussels,” he said.
