Speaking in Brussels on February 15, Antonio Gozzi, president of Italian steel producers association Federacciai, stated, "We ask European leaders to reject market economy status (MES) for China. Recognizing that this status would deprive Europe of the ability to stop Chinese dumping and that China would fatally undermine the European production base and threaten millions of jobs, I view positively any instrument which restores the rules, such as preventive surveillance measures. I hope that defensive measures will soon be adopted. The Chinese steel industry is losing $4 billion a month and is a state-subsidized sector, and so I do not understand how China can be considered to be a market economy. "
Mr. Gozzi was speaking amid protests held in Brussels by both European steel entrepreneurs and steel workers in a bid to block the granting of market economy status to China later in the current year - against the backdrop of fears of a collapse of the steel sector in Europe amid a flood of cheap imports from China.
Market economy status for China would also increase CO2 emissions. Chinese production (80 percent coal-based) is in fact far more damaging to the environment than European production (28 percent coal-based), Federacciai said, adding that replacing European steel production with imports of Chinese steel would result in a 43 percent increase in CO2 emissions.