In a statement released on October 7, Federacciai, the Italian federation of steel companies, has assessed the European Commission’s permanent safeguard regime as an “overall positive measure” and “an important step towards a more informed European industrial policy capable of protecting the competitiveness and productive capacity of our steel industry”.
At the same time, however, statements by Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, regarding cooperation with member states and global partners, including at the WTO level, have raised some concerns. Federacciai believes that this issue should be addressed in the European Parliament, since involving global partners would mean having to discuss with China the measures designed to counter China’s trade practices.
For greater effectiveness, the note concludes, this proposal should be supported by “coherent and complementary instruments”, such as the Buy European strategy and a review of the CBAM, especially with regard to the abolition of free allowances, which could also harm other segments of the industry.
The new safeguard system is designed to tackle overcapacity by limiting tariff-free import volumes to 18.3 million mt a year, doubling tariffs to 50 percent, and introducing a “Melt and Pour” requirement to prevent circumvention, as SteelOrbis has reported.
