Spanish steel association Unión de Empresas Siderúrgicas (Unesid) views “very positively” the proposal presented by the European Commission for a new trade measure to replace steel safeguards.
Unesid is calling for the scope to be extended to protect downstream products and the entire value chain of the sector, Kallanish notes.
In a statement, the organisation highlights this is a decisive step to ensuring competitiveness, sustainability and employment in the Spanish and European steel industry. It is urging the rapid adoption of the regulation so that it enters into force at the beginning of 2026.
“The EC [European Commission]’s proposal is ambitious and much needed,” comments Unesid general director Carola Hermoso. “It restores a framework for competition, boosts capacity utilisation, offers stability and confidence to investments, and is essential to secure the future of European steel and the thousands of jobs that depend on it.”
The new framework brings certainty and predictability to a strategic sector for Europe’s industrial autonomy and green transition, while consolidating investments in decarbonisation, innovation and energy efficiency, according to the EC proposal (see Kallanish 8 October).
“The measure offers an opportunity to restore the competitiveness of the sector as an essential pillar of Europe’s economic, industrial and environmental development,“ Hermoso concludes.
Todor Kirkov Bulgaria
