European Steel Action Day - No Europe without Steel!

On 9th November 2016, under the banner of industriAll Europe, a demonstration will take place in the EU quarter of Brussels. European industrial workers will come from all across Europe to demand action to stop the continuous decline of the steel sector.

According to Enrico Gibellieri, co-rapporteur of the EESC opinion "Steel: Preserving sustainable jobs and growth in Europe", "steel underpins the value chains of the main European Union manufacturing sectors. The EU is the second largest producer of steel worldwide after China and the steel sector directly employs around 328 000 workers, as well as many more indirectly.

Since 2008, more than 90 000 jobs have been lost and, if action is not taken quickly and decisively to restore the conditions for healthy competition, this trend is set to continue…".

It is thus to defend the interests of a sector that is essential for the European economy that European industrial workers will march together under the motto “No Europe without Steel!” to defend their demands.

One of the current threats to the steel industry is that of the imports of Chinese steel at dumping prices. It is possible that the WTO will soon grant market economy status to China making it more difficult to enforce anti-dumping protection measures. In this framework, a joint initiative by members of the European Parliament, the President of the EESC Workers' Group, Gabriele Bischoff, and members of the CoR, urges the European Commission to reinforce the European trade defence instruments to guarantee fair conditions of competition for the European industries particularly affected by dumping practices, notably the steel sector.

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Joint initiative: Open letter to Commissioners - Market Economy Status - China