The European Commission expects "difficult" negotiations on guarantees of the FTA partners
The European Commission expects tough negotiations with the partners in the free trade agreement on the allocation of tariff quotas as part of the proposed new protective measure for steel, but may provide favorable treatment to these partners, as well as to countries agreeing on measures to combat excess production capacity. Meanwhile, there is no deadline for the completion of these negotiations yet.
This was explained by Leon Delvaux, director of the Directorate E of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security (DG Trade), at a hearing on Tuesday in the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade (INTA).
He noted that about 67% of steel imports to the EU come from FTA partners. "So it's obvious that, given our goal of reducing[import]volumes, this will be a very difficult discussion with third countries, and in particular with partners in the free trade agreement," Delvaux said during a session overseen by Callanish.
Negotiations conducted in accordance with the WTO procedure do not have a deadline and will begin as soon as the Commission receives a mandate from the European Council. Most third countries have already informally applied to the Commission for clarification of the new measure, he added.
However, the application of the new safeguard measure will not depend on the completion of these negotiations. "I think we consider it important to maintain our independence and the ability to independently take action in this area," Delvaux said.
The Commission will also continue discussions with partners in the Global Steel Overcapacity Forum, hoping for a better outcome than so far. The forum's attempts since its founding in 2018 "to collectively deal with excess capacity have not yielded results," he added.
The newly elected Parliamentary Rapporteur on the new protective measures proposal, Karin Carlsbro, who is also Vice-Chair of the INTA committee, is scheduled to present her report on the issue on December 2. It will then be open for amendments and a vote in the ITRE Committee by mid-January, after which parliament will vote on Carlsbro's final report, most likely in February, INTA committee chairman Bernd Lange said.
During the hearing, Carlsbrogh stated that the new measure is needed more urgently than by July 2026, when the current safeguards expire.
"Importers are accumulating stocks of cheap steel with lower environmental standards, and our manufacturers are moving further and further away from restoring their production capacities every day, because we do not have more effective measures," she said.
"We are, obviously,