German steel concerns criticize IAA proposals
The German steel association Wirtschaftsvereinigung (WV) Stahl and the IG Metall workers' union criticized the European Commission's proposal on the Law on Production Acceleration (IAA), presented last week, for not complying with the general rule "Buy European".
Unlike other materials, namely aluminum and concrete, the European Commission's 25 percent quota for low-carbon materials in public tenders does not provide for mandatory European steel origin.
"The war and protectionist measures have made Europe's strategic dependence painfully visible," said Kerstin—Maria Rippel, Managing Director of WV Stahl, and Jurgen Kerner, Deputy Chairman of the Board of IG Metall. "The stability of the European economy is becoming a necessary condition for security," their article for Welt says.
.The failure to link the quota for "green" steel with domestic supplies "means Europe's abandonment of the role of a producing region," which is ultimately a "historic political mistake," they conclude. They explain that their statement is "not about building walls, but about self-affirmation."
.Pointing to the policies of the United States and India, they note that "only a naive continent voluntarily refuses to link demand to domestic production in order to support its own forces."
Thyssenkrupp Steel, the country's largest steel producer, believes that the IAA helps imports more than domestic steel production. In the current draft, the proposal gives the green light to purchases in any foreign region. "Thus, we support investments outside of Europe, not within it," Ilse Yaroni, the company's CEO, said in a statement sent to Kallanish.
Meanwhile, Saarland Economy Minister Juergen Brake called on the federal government to push the Commission to amend the proposal. Federal Minister of Economy Katarina Reiche also criticized the IAA, but mainly about the bureaucracy it generates. "This is the 50th domestic content offer, which complements the 49 others that no one else can follow," Welt quotes her. She is reticent about the demand to buy European products, fearing that this could alienate reliable international trading partners.
The additional bureaucracy that may arise from European measures such as the IAA is also a concern in some steel-using industries, such as German engineering. Its VDMA association also questions the requirements for local content and warns that this could become an additional burden for its equipment manufacturers, mainly