German Chancellor Olaf Scholz invited steel industry executives, works council representatives and union leaders to a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin on Monday, in his latest bid to shore up the country’s ailing economy.
Making the announcement on Saturday on
Speaking to the newspapers of media group Funke, Scholz said: “Steel will be part of our industry for centuries to come, and the aim now is to secure steel production in Germany in the long term.”
The chancellor added that this had “geostrategic significance”.
Germany’s largest steel company, ThyssenKrupp, announced last month that it plans to cut 11,000 jobs at its steel plant over the next six years. After the restructuring, the company will employ only 16,000 workers, down from the current 27,000.
Employee representatives and the powerful IG Metall union, Germany’s largest, have warned of long-term resistance to the plans.
Scholz has also expressed concern about ThyssenKrupp’s plans, with particular reference to the steel required by Germany’s main arms industry.
Since the turning point marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, “we have learned that companies in the arms industry are too often dependent on suppliers from other countries, where we cannot always be sure that we will have the will receive materials we need.” at some point,” Scholz told the Neue Westfälische newspaper.
Germany could not allow itself to be blackmailed, he said. After the invasion, Scholz announced a major change in German defense policy.
