Sep 12, 2023
EU CBAM: Campaign gift for resigned EC Vice-President? – Stainless Espresso

EU CBAM: Election campaign gift for Frans Timmermans?

The Executive Vice President of the EUROPEAN COMMISSION for the European Green Deal, who officially left office on 22 August 2023, is, as his title suggests, considered one of the driving forces behind the EU Green Deal, which also includes the much-criticised Carbon Border Tax CBAM, due to come into force in October 2023.

Timmermans moves into Dutch politics

Frans Timmermans, a member of the Dutch Partij van de Arbeid, which is counted among the Social Democrats, had submitted his resignation to the EC after he was elected as the top candidate for the upcoming parliamentary elections in the Netherlands.

It had already become known at the end of July 2023 that Timmermans wanted to retire as EU climate chief in order to become more active in politics in his home country.

Did the EC rush CBAM through?

On 17 August 2023, when it was already clear that Timmermans would leave his post in Brussels, the European Commission quickly published the “final” version of the CBAM Regulation. Less than a month after the end of the public consultations, a regulation was quickly pushed through for which the consultations on the “EU emissions trading system (ETS) – update of the rules for monitoring and reporting emissions” had taken until the fourth quarter of 2023.

Final CBAM Regulation was not due until September

The final CBAM Regulation had been planned for mid to late September 2023, at least that’s what the EC staff in charge said. Some associations were even still in active negotiations with the EC about obvious weaknesses in the CBAM drafts and were equally surprised by the hasty introduction.

Election campaign gift for Frans Timmermans?

This hasty introduction of the final CBAM regulation in connection with the departure of the EC Vice President Frans Timmermans, who, together with the Social Democrats, is very close to the European steel producers, could easily be interpreted as someone treating himself to an even bigger gift for the upcoming election campaign in the Netherlands. 

Call for immediate action on EU anti-circumvention case

Yesterday (Monday), Thorsten Gerber, CEO Gerber Group, sent a fire letter to the Members of the European Parliament calling for immediate action against the anti-circumvention proceedings recently initiated by the European Commission against stainless steel cold-rolled originating in Indonesia and to put the increasingly brazen and arrogant EU stainless steel oligopoly and the EUROFER lobbyists in their place. 

EC ignores the backbone of the European economy

“In a democratic, liberal Europe based on free trade, it is unacceptable for the European Commission to court and favour only multinationals. While the economic backbone of the EU, the SMEs with their millions of small and medium-sized enterprises, are to be disadvantaged and systematically squeezed out of the market,” Thorsten Gerber said today.

European Commission pursues a policy of favouritism

Thorsten Gerber continued that “The favouritism of the European Commission, especially towards EUROFER and its oligarchic clients, must now finally stop. Europe does not need new economic wars or subsidy races, but more free trade again, more competition and more opportunities for all.”

Source: Steel News