European Commission monitoring sale of Zelezara – Still not temporary measures for steel from Serbia

European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elzbieta Bienkowska stated that the European Commission was not interested in who had bought Zelezara Smederevo nor did it have anything against any investor from China, but that it wanted to see if the takeover process was transparent, open and in line with European regulations, Politika writes.

She said this in her interview for the newspaper when asked how the EC saw the fact the Chinese Hesteel had taken over Zelezara Smederevo. Bienkowska said about the investigation about dumping that the EC had not imposed provisional measures to Serbia on April 7.

– The investigation is ongoing, but if the matter were serious, temporary customs measures would have already been implemented. There have not been sanctions yet, which is good news for you. We are very sensitive to every signal of steel being sold below price. Serbia is not as present in the European market as China, which is a realistic threat to European companies – Bienkowska said.

According to her, this is a problem and a threat to the automotive industry, which leans on and depends on the production of steel.

– People throughout Europe are losing their jobs. We want fair trade and equal conditions for all. The investigation conducted by the EC was discussed at the meeting with Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic – said the European Commissioner.

Talking about the advantages of the Serbian market compared to the region, she said that the workforce in Serbia was cheap, but that it was not the main reason why investors should invest money in Serbia and buy Serbian products.

– It’s more important for the workforce to have quality and expertise. You shouldn’t count on cheap workforce, as the quality workforce will then leave the country so it could be better paid abroad. This happened to Poland several years ago. I know that Serbia is a land of smart and quality workforce – Bienkowska said in her interview for the Belgrade newspaper.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Bruxelles

Železara Smederevo d.o.o.

HBIS GROUP Iron & Steel d.o.o. Beograd

Vlada Republike Srbije

European Commission

Hesteel

Elzbieta Bienkowska

dumping

export of steel

steel from China

dumping measure for steel

automotive industry

Aleksandar Vucic