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Europe will defend its industry against unfair competition, says Séjourné

by AI | 03.Dec 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The new European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Stéphane Séjourné, stated that the EU would defend its industry, particularly its steel industry, against unfair competition from foreign countries.

Stéphane Séjourne, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of prosperity and industrial strategy, visits the ArcelorMittal Belgium factory in Ghent, on December 3, 2024. (Photo: Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)

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Ghent (Belgium) – Europe is ready to defend its industry against unfair practices by foreign countries, warned on Tuesday the new Vice-President of the Commission in charge of Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, Stéphane Séjourné, during a visit to the ArcelorMittal steel plant in Ghent (northwest Belgium).

“We cannot be the only open market. I say this to the Americans: if they want access to the European market, we must have access to the American market,” said the French official to AFP, questioned about the threat of tariffs brandished by President-elect Donald Trump.

This visit to a steel plant employing five thousand people marks the priority given to economic competitiveness by the new European executive.

“The Commission has been working for weeks on a plan for the steel industry,” explained Stéphane Séjourné.

The European steel industry is burdened by Chinese competition and caught in an expensive ecological transition. It pays more for its energy than its American or Asian competitors.

Supporting the industry is “not contradictory with environmental objectives, on the contrary,” estimated the Spaniard Teresa Ribera, Vice-President of the Commission in charge of Ecological Transition and Competition, also present in Ghent on Tuesday (December 3, 2024).

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