“I want to save this factory. You too ? ” Taking advantage of a visit by Emmanuel Macron to the family of Guise (Aisne), Friday, November 19, Xavier Bertrand directly questioned the President of the Republic on the situation of the Ascoval steelworks. The future of the plant located in Saint-Seaulve (North), which employs 270 people and produces steel bars for the manufacture of rails, remains unclear. The German group Saarstahl, which owns it, was indeed planning to relocate part of its production to Germany, where the blast furnaces run on coal, much cheaper than electricity, the prices of which are soaring.
After a meeting in Bercy on Thursday evening, Saarstahl, which has owned the steel plant since June 2021, finally gave up its project. But the government did not specify the guarantees granted, raising the concern of Mr. Bertrand. “The solution adopted is not satisfactory, thus launched the president of the Hauts-de-France region and candidate for the nomination of the Republicans (LR) party for the head of state. It is the electricity tariff that is the problem. As long as we have competition from the Germans with coal, they [Ascoval] will not be competitive. They must be granted the preferential tariff, it is the only way to get them out of the business in the long term. “
“As you know, dear president of the regional council, the minister [chargée de l’industrie] spent his day and night there “, retorted Mr. Macron, inviting him to ” talk about “ to Agnès Pannier-Runacher, who announced that the contract between Ascoval and EDF would change on 1er January for “Stabilize” the cost of electricity. “I want to save this factory. You too ? “, then insisted Mr. Bertrand. “They have at my request yesterday convened the company”, replied Mr. Macron. “I tell you that this is not the solution”, interrupted the president of the region, demanding “Guarantees” on the electricity tariff granted to the factory which employs 270 people.
“You may know better than everyone else”, Mr. Macron got angry. “The problem is not to know who is right between us, take into account the point of view for which I am the spokesperson”, retorted his interlocutor. The Head of State then cut it short by concluding: “Thank you for being alongside the other elected officials who work for the territory. With me you have a President of the Republic who fights for industry on the ground. “
“We are relieved”
In a statement released on Friday afternoon, Saarstahl confirmed that “The reflections concerning a possible limited and temporary transfer of volumes are no longer pursued”. The steel group underlined the “Success” of “Many talks” with “Customers, suppliers, staff members”, which took place in “Collaboration with the French authorities”, but without giving more details on the rewards or the assurances obtained to abandon his project.
“We will not be able to go into the details of conversations between a customer and his supplier, but what was at the heart of the solution was the renegotiation of the contractual conditions concerning the rails, with all the customers, who are notably French and Belgian. I think Hayange’s first customer is well known ”, said the cabinet of the Minister for Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, referring to the SNCF.
Three lines of work had in particular been put on the table during the various working meetings between the German steelmaker and government representatives, one of which was to index the contract between Saarstahl with the SNCF on the world iron prices which s ‘fly away. Another option was to adapt Ascoval’s electricity supply contract with EDF. On the move Friday in Isère, Mme Pannier-Runacher hailed a decision “Collectively found”.
“What was at stake was the production of electric steel, that is to say 90% carbon-free in France, compared to coal production. We could clearly see all the collective absurdity of a decision of this nature ”, underlined the minister. Union side, “We are relieved, it was nonsense for us”, especially “That it is public money that saved us”, reacted to Agence France-Presse Cyril Morelle, elected CGT.