EFF enters a new phase of trans­form­a­tion and opportunity

With new lead­er­ship and a clear strategy, the European Foundry Fed­er­a­tion strengthens its role in Brus­sels and reaf­firms its mis­sion to rep­res­ent the foundry sec­tor across Europe

From 26 to 28 June 2025, the mem­bers of the European Foundry Fed­er­a­tion (EFF) gathered in Ber­lin for their annual Coun­cil Meet­ing, at a cru­cial moment for the European foundry industry. The meet­ing provided an essen­tial plat­form for reflec­tion, stra­tegic plan­ning, and the present­a­tion of an ambi­tious action plan for 2025 and beyond.

A CRITICAL JUNCTURE: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

EFF Pres­id­ent Chiara Danieli opened the meet­ing by high­light­ing the major shifts and devel­op­ments shap­ing the sec­tor. She ref­er­enced the urgent warn­ings raised in the “Draghi Report” and other ana­lyses, which sug­gest that Europe is at risk of los­ing ground in global com­pet­it­ive­ness without bold stra­tegic change.

The geo­pol­it­ical land­scape was a cent­ral theme. The return of Don­ald Trump to the U.S. pres­id­ency in Janu­ary 2025 has already dis­rup­ted the mul­ti­lat­eral trade order, lead­ing to new U.S. tar­iffs on European products and stalling invest­ment and trade flows. Mean­while, rising ten­sions between the U.S. and China have intens­i­fied the impact of Chinese indus­trial over­ca­pa­city, res­ult­ing in over­sup­ply on the European market—distorting com­pet­i­tion and depress­ing prices.

Pres­id­ent Danieli also addressed internal pres­sures linked to the European Green Deal: while its sus­tain­ab­il­ity goals are com­mend­able, she noted, the policy has placed addi­tional bur­dens on Europe’s indus­trial com­pet­it­ive­ness and invest­ment capacity—particularly in terms of effi­ciency and innov­a­tion. Europe, she said, is cur­rently “squeezed from both sides,” caught between grow­ing global com­pet­i­tion and increas­ing internal constraints.

One sig­ni­fic­ant pos­it­ive devel­op­ment, how­ever, is the launch of the Clean Indus­trial Deal by the new European Com­mis­sion in Feb­ru­ary 2025. This ini­ti­at­ive aims to align Green Deal tar­gets with indus­trial com­pet­it­ive­ness, recog­niz­ing that afford­able energy and a strong indus­trial base are essen­tial to the green trans­ition. For the first time, energy afford­ab­il­ity for energy-intens­ive indus­tries has become a polit­ical pri­or­ity. Danieli then emphas­ized the vital role of the foundry sec­tor in enabling Europe’s defense, infra­struc­ture, and energy systems—asserting that the sector’s skills and know-how are indis­pens­able for Europe’s stra­tegic autonomy.

Des­pite the eco­nomic down­turn that has affected the industry since 2023, Danieli con­firmed that EFF has delivered on its commitments—chief among them, the recruit­ment and onboard­ing of a new Sec­ret­ary Gen­eral. She out­lined key mile­stones in the “Go to Europe” roadmap: the reform of EFF’s stat­utes and gov­ernance in 2023, the launch and com­ple­tion of a rebrand­ing pro­ject in 2024, and the appoint­ment of the new Sec­ret­ary Gen­eral in 2025

A NEW CHAPTER: LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGIC DIRECTION

The Coun­cil Meet­ing also served as the offi­cial intro­duc­tion of Ain­hoa Ond­ar­za­bal, EFF’s new Sec­ret­ary Gen­eral, to the national asso­ci­ations. Ori­gin­ally from the Basque Country—an import­ant European hub for metalworking—Ms. Ond­ar­za­bal brings over 25 years of inter­na­tional exper­i­ence in the indus­trial and auto­mot­ive sec­tors, includ­ing lead­er­ship roles in Ger­many, Tur­key, China, and Latin Amer­ica. She also led the devel­op­ment and inter­na­tional growth of Basque Trade & Invest­ment, the pub­lic agency for the inter­na­tion­al­iz­a­tion of Basque industry.

In her address, Ms. Ond­ar­za­bal out­lined her mis­sion: to rep­res­ent and amp­lify the voice of the European foundry industry in Brus­sels and bey­ond, and to build stronger coordin­a­tion among national asso­ci­ations. With a full-time Sec­ret­ary Gen­eral and renewed mem­ber engage­ment, she said, EFF is enter­ing “a new phase of oppor­tun­ity and transformation.”

The new Sec­ret­ary Gen­eral also high­lighted the coex­ist­ence of pres­sure and oppor­tun­ity facing the sec­tor. The main chal­lenges include unfair com­pet­i­tion from non-European pro­du­cers who do not fol­low equi­val­ent envir­on­mental stand­ards, rising cost pressures—especially from decar­bon­iz­a­tion policies that dis­pro­por­tion­ately affect SMEs—uncertainty and weak­en­ing demand in key sec­tors like auto­mot­ive and con­struc­tion, and grow­ing geo­pol­it­ical instability.

How­ever, there are also strong reas­ons for optim­ism: industry is once again a polit­ical pri­or­ity in Europe, the metals sec­tor is gain­ing vis­ib­il­ity in Brus­sels (with foundries as an essen­tial part of the value chain), and there is grow­ing polit­ical momentum to rethink out­dated mod­els and embrace a more stra­tegic indus­trial approach.

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS AND FUTURE OUTLOOK

In addi­tion to the stra­tegic ses­sions, the Coun­cil Meet­ing agenda included key reports from EFF’s com­mis­sions and work­ing groups, as well as the present­a­tion and approval of the 2024 fin­an­cial state­ment and the 2025 budget. A present­a­tion on anti­trust legis­la­tion and its implic­a­tions for asso­ci­ation activ­it­ies was delivered by Ms. Corinna Neun­zig. The meet­ing also fea­tured a roundtable on the gen­eral eco­nomic out­look, offer­ing insights into coun­try-spe­cific eco­nomic trends.

In her con­clud­ing remarks, Pres­id­ent Danieli urged mem­bers to strengthen the Federation’s struc­ture and unity, stress­ing the import­ance of being “at the table—not on the menu” in EU poli­cy­mak­ing. The foundry industry—with its tech­nical expert­ise, pro­duc­tion pro­cesses, and people—is a stra­tegic asset for Europe’s future in defense, energy, and eco­nomic growth. It must be recog­nized as such by European institutions.