Bureaucracy, regulation benefit, protect steel
The growing number of regulations and bureaucracy adds value and protects the European steel sector, panelists said on Tuesday at the Kallanish Europe Steel Markets conference in Vienna.
Jaap Jan Aardenburg, head of trade at Tata Steel in the Netherlands, told delegates that bureaucracy can benefit the industry by creating a level playing field for everyone. He added that the European Commission is now thinking about the consequences of its policy, about improving the decision-making process in the past.
Wolfgang Mitterdorfer, a member of the board of the voestalpine steel division, agreed that the European bureaucracy has become "better than it was before," and expressed general optimism about the opportunities opening up.
However, he added, "What we urgently need is predictability" regarding the ETS regime. He stressed that the transformation of his company was conceived five to six years ago, but now the system is changing and being reviewed again.
Although Mitterdorfer noted that the upcoming changes in precautions and CBAM have had a psychological impact on the market, the full effect is not yet visible due to the availability of material stocks among customers.
Miroslav Motyka, president of the Polish Steel Manufacturers Association, told delegates that additional CBAM and regulatory measures are needed and called for additional products and sectors to be included in CBAM and trade measures to protect the processing industries.
Judith Neyer, head of the Department of Energy Policy and Strategy at the Austrian Ministry of Economy and Energy, believes that in 2026 the steel industry "will be at a crossroads." She acknowledged recent calls for easing the timing of the ETS, but added that Austria had asked for more time because the scheme was working as intended, but the global landscape had changed.
Neyer agreed that something has changed in the European approach to politics. I think the EU is trying to do something new, in terms of looking at entire industrial sectors, not just politics.ice fields.
The ETS and CBAM scheme are just beginning to work together as a single team to drive the development of the steel industry, while without strong carbon emissions in Europe, there will be no growth in hydrogen production, infrastructure, or electrification, she warned. "The carbon signal is crucial for investors," she added.
"I think ETS is already implementing decarbonization strategies around the world, and this is starting to reflect what the EU can initiate," Neyer said.
However, Motyka warned about the balance between decarbonization and deindustrialization.
"We need to find out what reduction in CO2 emissions has been achieved through deindustrialization.,