On Tuesday 7 October, the European Commission presented in Strasbourg a legislative proposal to protect the EU steel industry from the negative impact of global overcapacity.
In a statement published on 9 October, the German recycling associations bvse – Recycling Germany, BDSV and VDM, in line with their European umbrella organization Recycling Europe (formerly EuRIC) announced that they welcomed the new measures, saying there was a “breath of relief” among German and European manufacturers.
Sebastian Will, member of the BVSE executive committee and vice president of Recycling Europe, explained: “Working together to achieve extremely important purpose is understood as an integral part of our DNA. Introducing market restrictions without any factual justification, based solely on the interests of a very narrow clientele, would seriously undermine the confidence of our members in the EU institutions."
However, Guido lipinski, managing director of BDSV, was keen to point out that the reduction of import quotas and higher tariffs does not only affect countries that engage in unfair trading practice, but also domestic companies and, more indirectly, European clients. In fact, many European businesses survive solely by exporting their products. He said this would further undermine competitiveness, already threatened by high administrative, energy and labor costs. “It’s interesting,” added Murat Bayram, president of VDM, “this only applies to
