EFF signs the call-to-action to safe­guard the EU Steel and Metals Industry

The European Foundry Fed­er­a­tion joins a coali­tion of over 300 com­pan­ies and 35 national Asso­ci­ations in urging the EU and Mem­ber States to take imme­di­ate action

The European Foundry Fed­er­a­tion (EFF) has offi­cially endorsed the call-to-action to Safe­guard the European Steel and Metals Industry, launched by Eur­ometal and sup­por­ted by a grow­ing coali­tion of more than 300 com­pan­ies and 35 national asso­ci­ations across Europe.
The call-to-action addresses the crit­ical pres­sures cur­rently threat­en­ing European steel and metals value chains and calls on the European Com­mis­sion and EU national gov­ern­ments to respond with con­crete, imme­di­ate measures.

Why EFF endorses this call-to-action
Europe’s foundries are on the front line of the chal­lenges described in this call-to-action. Sur­ging imports of pro­cessed products, global trade dis­tor­tions, per­sist­ently high energy costs, and an uneven reg­u­lat­ory bur­den are not abstract con­cerns: they are daily real­it­ies for EFF mem­ber com­pan­ies across the con­tin­ent. The risk of dein­dus­tri­al­isa­tion is real, and the win­dow for effect­ive action is narrowing.

EFF fully sup­ports the EU’s cli­mate ambi­tions. How­ever, as the Call makes clear, decar­bon­isa­tion and indus­trial com­pet­it­ive­ness must go hand in hand. European foundries can­not lead the green trans­ition if they are forced out of the mar­ket by unfair competition.

What the Call asks for
The sig­nat­or­ies urge the EU and Mem­ber States to act on five fronts:

• Trade defence — New tar­iff meas­ures and tar­iff rate quotas for steel deriv­at­ives and steel-intens­ive products  (CN codes 73–95), aligned with the level of pro­tec­tion already in place in the US and Canada
• CBAM exten­sion — Broad­en­ing the Car­bon Bor­der Adjust­ment Mech­an­ism to cover down­stream metal products and pre­vent car­bon leakage
• “Made in EU” require­ments — Pri­or­it­ising EU-pro­duced goods and ser­vices in pub­lic pro­cure­ment, infra­struc­ture, defence, and e‑mobility funding
• Cost relief meas­ures - Redu­cing indus­trial elec­tri­city prices to a max­imum of 5 ct/kWh, review­ing ETS free allow­ance phase-out, and cut­ting reg­u­lat­ory burdens
• Job pro­tec­tion — Recog­nising that over 13 mil­lion dir­ect jobs, and up to 65 mil­lion indir­ect jobs, depend on a healthy European steel and metals sector

A united voice
EFF’s endorse­ment reflects the con­vic­tion that only a coordin­ated, cross-sec­tor response can effect­ively defend Europe’s indus­trial base. Foundries are a crit­ical link in the steel & metals value chain, from auto­mot­ive to energy, from infra­struc­ture to defence. Their sur­vival is insep­ar­able from the broader health of European manufacturing.

We call on all EFF mem­bers, part­ners, and stake­hold­ers to sup­port this ini­ti­at­ive and amp­lify its mes­sage to poli­cy­makers at national and European level.

Read the full text of the call-to-action at the fol­low­ing link.