The European steel industry is an important sector in the EU, in which around 360 000 people are employed at more than 500 production sites in 23 Member States. Elżbieta Bieńkowska, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, therefore joined the European Committee of the Regions Plenary Session today to respond to concerns from steel producing regions and cities. She underlined that the European Commission's priority is to strike the right balance between the competitiveness of the steel industry and Europe's environmental and climate change goals. "The steel sector faces long term challenges, which need to be addressed" she admitted before calling for more investment in breakthrough technologies.
Christian Buchmann responded on behalf of the EPP Group saying: "If we want economic growth in Europe, we have to support our industries, including the steel industry. The proposed anti-dumping rules are valuable and promising, but they have to kick in quickly." Helma Kuhn-Theis agreed adding that the reform of foreign trade also needs to be top priority. "When it comes to China" she said, "we must ensure that the market economy rules are the same on both sides".