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The government will help steel giant ThyssenKrupp with its green transition and is confident that the EU Commission will play along, Economy Minister Robert Habeck told steelworkers at a union rally in Duisburg on Wednesday.
ThyssenKrupp, Germany’s largest steel producer, wants to open a new plant in Duisburg in 2026 that will draw on hydrogen to reduce carbon emissions.
The federal government is hoping to contribute €1.3bn to the project. However, the subsidies still need to be greenlighted by the EU Commission.
“We will get there in the summer,” Habeck promised at the rally, saying that talks with the Commission were closing in on an agreement.
“I will do whatever it takes to ensure that all sites of the steel industry in Germany can be preserved by going green,” Habeck told steelworkers at a union rally in Duisburg. The industry would have to reform to survive, he argued – but: “not anywhere else – here!”
In the past, German governments tended to be sceptical of state aid, but under Habeck, Germany has converged on France’s more interventionist industrial policy. He launched a multi-billion euro ‘Carbon Contracts for Difference’ scheme two weeks ago.
If approved by the Commission, it will allow German businesses to apply for government funding to support the decarbonisation of production processes.
Habeck’s more active approach is also a response to a difficult period for the industrial sector in Germany.
Businesses complain that rising energy prices have pushed up production costs, raising fears about the competitiveness of German companies and jobs.
A recent Federation of German Business (BDI) study shows that several companies are moving parts of their businesses abroad.
The transition towards carbon-neutral production processes is expected to increase costs further, particularly for steel producers.
Unions are thus urging the Ministry of Economic Affairs to make aid available fast to protect investments and jobs.
“Our green future is in jeopardy. The federal government and the EU are merely pointing at each other. This needs to stop,” Tekin Nisakkol, chairman of the works council of ThyssenKrupp Europe, demanded at the rally on Wednesday.
(Nick Alipour | EURACTIV.de)
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