Action is needed at the EU level to strengthen the struggling steel industry, a spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday following a steel industry summit in Berlin.
Scholz hosted labour leaders and executives from Germany’s steel industry to discuss possible efforts to prop up the sector, which for years has struggled against lower-cost competition from Asia and a fluctuating market.
The German government has urged the European Commission to keep important relief measures for the steel industry in place, and improve some of the supports, according to a statement from Scholz’s chief spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit.
Hebestreit said Scholz has called on the European Commission to act decisively when it comes to distortions of competition caused by dumping and market-distorting subsidies, and the EU must examine further trade protection measures for the steel sector.
Scholz also reiterated proposals from his minority government to offset high electricity prices for industrial producers by subsidizing fees that fund the expansion of Germany’s power grid.
However, Scholz has lacked a majority in parliament since he fired ex-finance minister Christian Lindner, and enacting those proposals would require support from the opposition.
Early elections are expected to be held on February 23.
