The attempt by Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Green) to give an energy discount to the steel giant ArcelorMittal ran into the opposition on Tuesday. Yet the government assumes that the file will be finalized before the elections.
The N-VA member Bert Wollants gave strong resistance from the opposition in the House Committee on Energy, but ultimately Vlaams Belang forced a second reading. As a result, the green light has not yet been given for the scheme that Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Green) devised to provide energy-intensive companies with an energy discount in the future.
That is important. In September – when there may not yet be a new government after the June elections – a decision must be made on a billion-dollar investment by the steel group ArcelorMittal in its Ghent factory.
It will be a race against time for politicians, because the House will meet for the last time on Wednesday, May 8. The government is nevertheless confident that the energy discount scheme will be approved.
French and German support
The energy price is a key element in the political battle that the federal and Flemish governments are fighting side by side to secure ArcelorMittal’s investment. “Companies that invest heavily in electrification to reduce their emissions must have access to electricity at an affordable rate,” Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) said on Tuesday.
The energy price is a key element in the political battle that the federal and Flemish governments are fighting side by side to secure ArcelorMittal’s multibillion-dollar investment in Ghent.
Van der Straeten pointed out in the committee that Germany and France give large industries with high electricity consumption, such as the steel industry and chemicals, significant discounts on their transmission network rates. That is why she has drawn up an amendment that makes it possible to give industrial companies discounts here too on the invoice of the transmission system operator Elia. “In this way, the competitive handicap with neighboring countries can be reduced or even eliminated,” she said.
A discount on Elia’s invoice should help convince the investment in Ghent. ArcelorMittal is considering building a new plant there that produces non-liquid iron based on natural gas and later hydrogen. For fear of losing the investment, the Flemish government decided to provide an additional subsidy of 70 million euros. As a result, the steel giant can count on a total of 120 million euros in Flemish subsidies if the new installation comes to Ghent.
France is particularly viewed with suspicion. Because in the French port city of Dunkirk, ArcelorMittal is planning a similar investment of 1.8 billion euros, against which the government is throwing 850 million in subsidies. France and Germany are not only waving discounts on grid rates, but also large subsidies to attract industrial companies.
Not at the expense of families
According to Van der Straeten, the Elia discount will not be at the expense of families or other companies. ‘By financing this through income from excise duties, the purchasing power of households and the competitive position of other companies, including SMEs, are safeguarded. The costs are not passed on to them through higher transmission network rates,” Van der Straeten explained to the committee.
On Thursday, parliament will approve another measure to convince ArcelorMittal: the reform of the investment deduction. This provides for a much larger deduction – 40 percent – for business investments in greening.
Tags: Federal government running time ArcelorMittal energy discount
