METALS LOBBY HEAD CALLS FOR GREATER SUPPORT: Brussels is failing to take the necessary steps to help the bloc’s metals industry weather the energy crisis, according to Evangelos Mytilineos, the president of industry group Eurometaux.
Matter of survival: In an interview with Antonia, Mytilineos said he welcomed the Commission’s proposal for a Critical Raw Materials Act — which is meant to diversify the bloc’s supply of key materials needed for green and digital transition tech — calling it an “improvement” as it deals with “industrial policies.” But the legislation won’t provide immediate relief for the extraction, refining and production industries that it targets, he warned. “A lot of these industries in Europe are under existential threat, which is coming mostly from the energy crisis,” he said, adding that they “have to survive in the meantime.”
Where’s the money? He also criticized the proposal for “not putting money on the table” to help industries, in contrast to the U.S.’s Inflation Reduction Act, a $369 billion package of green subsidies and tax breaks. The Commission proposal “gives me the impression that it leaves it to the private sector to do the job,” he said.
Concrete steps: Eurometaux is pressing the Commission for what Mytilineos called “a shock absorber” — a policy that “puts a cap” on power prices for energy-intensive industries whenever “prices go through the roof,” he said. The difference would be paid by “EU funds or the member countries of the EU,” he said, adding: “I haven’t seen any of this yet.”
The aluminum question: Echoing calls from other industry colleagues, Mytilineos said aluminum and zinc should be included in the Commission’s list of strategic raw materials that would benefit from faster permitting and additional funding, calling the issue “probably” his “main concern.” He also lamented that the Commission has “done virtually nothing to support these energy-intensive industries” over the past 18 months. As a result, “half of them have gone under” and it’s a “matter of time” for many other companies, he said.
Moving production elsewhere: He warned that Europe is producing the “cleanest aluminum in the world.” Losing one ton of production capacity of aluminum in Europe means “it will be produced in China or Indonesia, with five times the [carbon] footprint.”
On the ground: Asked what should be done about local resistance to new mining projects, he said “governments, the EU authorities, the companies have to educate the people” on the need to secure raw materials and push ahead with the rollout of renewable energy, saying “all this has a cost before it brings the benefits.”
