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Brussels – Hundreds of workers from many EU countries, including the Czech Republic, demonstrated today in Brussels near the headquarters of the European Commission for the rescue of European industry. They are bothered by high energy prices and overly ambitious decarbonization targets, which they say burden businesses. Seven buses with approximately 350 people arrived from the Czech Republic. The protest was organized by the European trade union center IndustriALL Europe.
The Brussels square, located on the road between the European Commission and the European Parliament, was filled with trade unionists from Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Luxembourg, and the Czech Republic. They all held colorful flags and signs like Save Our Steel!
Two buses also brought employees of Třinec Ironworks to the Belgian capital. “We have come to save the steel industry in the European Union because it has fallen into a crisis and jobs are at risk,” said Marcel Pielesz, chairman of the Třinec trade union, to Czech reporters in Brussels. “The steel industry provides 310,000 direct jobs and 2.2 million indirect jobs, which is a large number. In the last two years, 17 blast furnaces in the European Union have ceased operation, which represents about a 30 percent drop in production,” he added.
According to the chairman of the Třinec trade union, several factors are responsible for the current problems in the steel industry. “There is massive overcapacity in production, there are decarbonization targets that are very ambitious and are burdening our businesses in the EU immensely,” said Pielesz. According to him, the European Commission should, among other things, “clearly slow down the pace of decarbonization.” “We are not the ones who would say that we will not take care of the environment, but when it comes to decarbonization, we need more space and more time, not until 2035,” added the head of the Třinec trade union.
Roman Ďurčo, chairman of the KOVO Trade Union, which is the largest in the Czech Republic, also spoke on stage. “We decided to support this demonstration and we really want to sit at the table and do something with the industry because we all see what is happening here,” said Ďurčo to Czech reporters in Brussels. According to him, the Green Deal with measures for greater climate protection needs to be “revised with common sense.” “We are losing jobs, it is necessary to protect the European market. It is necessary to negotiate about it, to ease regulations,” he added. (February 5)