Europe’s steel industry is pushing to be included in the European Union’s upcoming Industrial Accelerator Act, which is set to introduce a “Made in Europe” provision requiring the use of locally manufactured materials in projects funded with public money. However, it remains unclear whether low-carbon steel will be covered by the draft legislation.
The act aims to prioritise domestic production in strategic sectors such as batteries, solar and wind energy, hydrogen manufacturing, nuclear power and electric vehicles — yet the initial draft appears to omit steel from these priorities, prompting concern among industry representatives.
Call for a marrow geographic scope
Eurofer, the main European steel association, has a crucial role in steel’s industry affairs. “I would agree for those that have a very similar system to the EU to add them. I have no problem with the UK, but you cannot add all the FTA (Free Trade Agreement) countries,” Axel Eggert, director general of steel association Eurofer said.
The Middle East/North Africa region, India, Indonesia and Vietnam should be excluded, he said.
“These are exactly those who create the overcapacity, who do not decarbonise in a way as we have to in the EU,” he continued.
Industry’s concerns and draft delays
The steel sector’s concern comes from a belief that excluding steel from “Made in Europe” provisions would under-cut investment in decarbonisation technologies within the EU.
Carmakers and other industries have called for provisions to include countries in their supply chains, such as Britain and Turkey.
Eggert said the latest draft has removed ‘Made in Europe’ requirements for steel. He said many other trade partners were buying locally, “India massively, China, the U.S. all ‘buy national’, but they do it for all the production, and we are here just talking about low carbon steel. So if you want to trigger investment in the decarbonisation, then you have to put steel here as well,” he said, referring to the Act.