© BELGIUM
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) does not want to end up in a subsidy race with the French government to seal a green investment in the ArcelorMittal steel factory in Ghent.
Source: BELGA
Today at 06:11
Since 2021, an installation that can decimate emissions from polluting blast furnaces has been investigated at the ArcelorMittal steel factory in Ghent. But the French government promises a generous subsidy package for the steel factory in Dunkirk and there is a deal with state-owned company EDF for energy supplies.
A European industry summit is scheduled for Tuesday in Antwerp. “We are going to see that we can fight with the same weapons,” says De Croo on the eve of that summit. “We are not participating in a subsidy race. But we also have assets in our country.”
The Flemish and federal governments have been in close contact with ArcelorMittal’s international management for years to seal the green investment. Earlier, Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) had also warned against a bid against member states with deep pockets.
ArcelorMittal will not decide on the final timeline for producing green steel in Ghent and Dunkirk until the end of this year. This involves a DRI installation and two electric melting furnaces. However, the investment amount that was involved at the time, more than 1 billion euros, has increased drastically in the meantime. But the promised subsidies – amounting to many hundreds of millions – have also more than doubled.
The exact amount is not systematically communicated because negotiations are still ongoing. Europe has already given the green light to a package of 280 million euros for the factory in Ghent, but that figure is already well outdated.
European cooperation
De Croo advocates European unity and budgetary discipline when awarding subsidies. “Europeans are stronger when we work together and there is room for several steel producers in Europe. But we do need to have an answer to the United States, for example, with the Inflation Reduction Act.”
The Flemish and federal governments want to anchor heavy industry in an economy that must become ambitiously more sustainable in order to win the battle against global warming. “But we must ensure that this is possible for heavy industry, which wants to be a partner in the climate transition,” says De Croo in the run-up to the EU industry summit, which will be organized on Tuesday at the factories of BASF Antwerp, the largest chemical company of our country.