Published 21 January 2013
SPECIAL REPORT / After a year of closures, sackings and cut-backs, arguments about how to turn European industry around will be to the fore this year as debate intensifies around the correct policy response, and doubts linger over the EU’s ability to deliver. A fall in the demand for steel of 8% during 2012 saw permanent closures of furnaces across Northern Europe, whilst others were mothballed in an attempt to stave off further closures. European steelmakers have written down major investments as the supply of steel and nonferrous metals products continues to outweigh demand, reflected in results for key steel-users such as the automobile sector.
French carmaker Renault’s decision on 15 January to cut 7,500 French jobs by 2016, followed similar announcements affecting the European operations of Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Opel and Peugeot. Between 2008 and 2012, 6.8 million jobs in construction and industry were lost across the EU, according to BusinessEurope, the group representing the member states’ largest business federations. “The severity of the crisis is producing a painful hangover,” said the group’s director-general, Markus Beyrer. …..A particular beef of big industry is that EU’s policies across climate and energy briefs have seen electricity suppliers pass on price increases to high energy consuming industries."Climate, in particular. Energy, as well," Moffatt told …..“The high price of energy is also becoming a significant disadvantage for industry vis-à-vis its global competitors,” To Read More….
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