French minister threatens to expel Arcelor Mittal

[Blackwater]

Arcelor Mittal is no longer welcome in France, its minister for industrial recovery, has said, accusing the steelmaker of "lying" and "disrespecting" the country.

The multinational angered workers and the government when it announced a plan in October to close two furnaces at its steel plant in Florange.

It gave the government a grace period of 60 days to look for a new owner.

The Mittal family said they were "extremely shocked" by the comments.

"We no longer want Arcelor Mittal in France because they didn't respect France," Arnaud Montebourg told French business daily Les Echos.

'Mittal's fault'
The minister, who previously opposed the closure of a Peugeot factory, accused the company of "overwhelming lies" and said the Florange closure breaks a promise made by chief executive Lakshmi Mittal during Mittal Steel's 26.9bn-euro (£21.8bn) takeover of Arcelor in 2006, which was strongly opposed by French ministers.

The problem "isn't the furnaces in Florange, it's Mittal", said Mr Montebourg.

Mr Mittal, the Indian-born chief executive, is expected to meet with President Francois Hollande on Tuesday to discuss the group's operations in France.

The talks come ahead of a deadline on Saturday which Mr Mittal gave the state to find a buyer for the two idled blast furnaces in Florange, a traditional steel town in north-eastern France.

The government says it has received two offers, but only for the entire site. Mr Mittal has refused to sell the full operation, which employs a total of 20,000 workers.

Nationalisation?
As a result, Mr Montebourg has said he is exploring how to seize the entire Florange site should Mr Mittal refuse his demands.

According to the French newspaper, Mr Montebourg's idea "would be a partnership with a minor manufacturer, the time to stabilise activity" in Florange.

Jean-Louis Borloo, a conservative politician and a former environment minister, also supported Mr Montebourg's efforts.

"France's steel industry needs to live - there are 2,200 people on the site, 22,000 Arcelor Mittal employees in France and globally, there are 75,000 [employees involved in steel]," he told France Inter radio.

"And the idea that the government, along with its sovereign wealth fund and partners like Eramet and Ascometal (mining and metallurgical groups), reflect upon a temporary state control... does not seem inappropriate."

The Mittal family said they were "extremely shocked" by Mr Montebourg's attacks on the steelmaker.

One person close to the group said: "These are pretty violent comments towards a group that employs 20,000 people in France."



BBC News - French minister threatens to expel Arcelor Mittal

 

[Blackwater]

Gore pagal ho gaye

 

[Singh]

Arnaud Montebourg is testing Mittal ? He'll fire all the 20,000 workers if need be.

 

[Singh]

Arnaud Montebourg is testing Mittal ? He'll fire all the 20,000 workers if need be.

Montebourg's threats, however, may be little more than hot air: legal experts say a compulsory takeover by the French government is likely to be unconstitutional and against European Union laws.

On Monday Montebourg defended his plan to temporarily nationalise the steelworks at Florange as "reasonable".

However, he attempted to row back on his interview with Les Echos. "When I said 'We no longer want Mittal in France', I meant that we no longer want Mittal's methods in France, methods which do not respect agreements and which are blackmail and threats," he said, visiting a Duralex factory near Orléans.

He said he was not "questioning the industrial presence of ArcelorMittal in France".

French minister urges steel-maker ArcelorMittal to leave country | Business | guardian.co.uk

 

[The Messiah]

The only problem is that he is an Indian.

 

[Blackwater]

The only problem is that he is an Indian.

True ,Those Indians who used to clean their toilets and shoes now become their master,

how can gora tolerate???

 

[JBH22]

this Arnaud Montebourg is a rather commie sympathiser the kinda of person who wants greater govt intervention in the economy.

French cannot accept the lost diva glory

 

[Yusuf]

this Arnaud Montebourg is a rather commie sympathiser the kinda of person who wants greater govt intervention in the economy.

French cannot accept the lost diva glory

Saar what do expect from a socialist government?

 

[drkrn]

True ,Those Indians who used to clean their toilets and shoes now become their master,

how can gora tolerate???

does this fit for obama too....

 

[Blackwater]

does this fit for obama too....

frankly yes. most of goras in USA not happy with obama.

obama won because of woman,and non-whites votes

 

[Patriot]

Mittal's next move should be takeover of Eramet and Ascometal to strengthen backward integration in their business.

 

[trackwhack]

Mittal's next move should be takeover of Eramet and Ascometal to strengthen backward integration in their business.

Mittal does not have the cash for that. Steel makers are getting killed. China is stuck, which means China's industrial suppliers in Europe are all piled up with inventory thus drying up steel demand worldwide. Or so they say. We dont know what the real picture in China is. I suspect they are playing this one - in order to subjugate Europe economically before taking on the US. China has the money to simply buy all of Europe.

 

[JBH22]

Saar what do expect from a socialist government?

sirji he's not typical socialist his ideas is more of lefty extremist,kinda of people who believe that the boss live to torture the employee

 

[pmaitra]

Boris Johnson tells Lakshmi Mittal 'if France doesn't want you, Britain does'

He told a meeting of businessmen in Delhi: "On a day when the sans-culottes appear to have captured the government in Paris and a French minister has been so eccentric as to call for a massive Indian investor to depart from France, I have no hesitation or embarrassment in saying to everyone here 'venez a Londres, mes amis'.

"Come to London, come to the business capital of the world, the place where 73 Indian firms are listed on the London Stock Exchange, where Indian companies already raise 53pc of their international equity, a city that has the largest banking and financial sector anywhere in the world, but which is at the cutting edge of all the great growth businesses of the 21st Century."

The sans culottes were a radical faction in the French Revolution.

Mr Johnson added: "I have a simple message for everyone here, our Indian friends. Following the demarche of Monsieur Montebourg, who is obviously cheesed off by what is happening in the eurozone, don't wait to be persecuted by the sans-culottes in Paris. Don't wait to be put in the tumbrels by the regime of Monsieur Hollande. Venez a Londres."

Video and comments: Boris Johnson tells Lakshmi Mittal 'if France doesn't want you, Britain does' - Telegraph

 

[nrj]

ArcelorMittal averts nationalisation

Following discussions with the French Government ahead of a midnight deadline, ArcelorMittal has struck a deal over the future of two blast furnaces at its plant in north-eastern France, averting recent threats of temporary nationalisation.

ArcelorMittal will invest €180 million (Rs 1,270 crore) in the Florange site over the next five years. Exactly where and how the investment will be made remains the subject of negotiations between ArcelorMittal and the government.

While the furnaces, which were idled in June and October last year, will be closed, they would not be dismantled and will remain on the site.

The agreement also involves no compulsory redundancies, with the company working with unions to find alternative roles for the 629 affected employees. "With regard to resolving the social aspects of this project, ArcelorMittal will not implement any social plan and an agreement will be negotiated with the trade unions on a voluntary basis," the company said.

"In the context of the current economic environment, this is a good agreement which will allow Florange downstream activities to pursue its development and to deliver value-added steels," said Henri Blaffart, Vice-President of Flat Carbon Europe at ArcelorMittal.

"The government decided against the idea of a temporary nationalisation that was floated in recent days," French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Tensions mounted over the past few days following controversial comments by French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg, who told financial daily Les Echos earlier this week that the company had reneged on commitments it had made, and that the government would consider temporary nationalisation until a buyer could be found, to preserve the 629 jobs.

While the threat provoked an outcry by those fearful that it would tarnish France's image, few believed that the government would act on its threat, seeing it more as a response to public fears about mounting job losses in the country's industrial heartland. "I think Hollande realises that nationalisation would be catastrophic for the country, and FDI," IHS Global Insight analyst James Goundry said ahead of the announcement.

During the merger, back in 2006, ArcelorMittal said it intended to continue with the restructuring plan being pursued by the previous owners, which would have resulted in the closure of the Florange blast furnaces.

The company, subsequently, shelved the closure plans, but following further weakness in the market announced that it would idle the two blast furnaces last year. The company plans to keep the remainder of the site, employing some 2,000 people, as an automotive hub, and has rejected the French government's calls that it consider sale of the entire site.

Business Line : News / International : Deal struck: ArcelorMittal averts nationalisation