Position Paper: CECIMO’s Reaction to the Renewed EU Safeguard Measures

30 June 2021

On 11 June, the European Commission notified the WTO about a proposal for the extension of the European Union's safeguard measures on steel imports, which is due to expire on 30 June. In addition, the new annual liberalisation of quota levels is proposed at a lower level (3% annual liberalisation against 5% previously). Afterwards, the EU Member States recently (18 June) supported this proposal. The official statement by the European Commission was published on 25th June.

As the European Association of the Machine Tool Industries and Related Manufacturing Technologies, in this document, we highlight the concerns of the European Machine Tool manufacturers affected by this decision.

Following the recovery trends in the European Machine Tool Industries (steel using industries), from our point of view, the decision to extend the existing restrictions for three years, will continue to have a negative impact on our sector growth and production levels. The decision comes at a time when our industries are recovering but facing serious shortages of steel and other important materials for our businesses. Extension of these measures will certainly have an impact on the speed of recovery and a slowdown in manufacturing while steel prices continue to reach record highs on the European market.

Read the full position paper below: