French Minister for Industrial Recovery Arnaud Montebourg stated in an interview on Monday that he no longer wants the steel giant ArcelorMittal in France and is seeking an industrial partner to temporarily take over the operations of the group.
– We no longer want Mittal in France because they do not respect France – Montebourg told the financial daily Les Echos.
– Mittal’s lies since 2006 are condemnable – emphasized the French minister, adding that the company ‘has not fulfilled its obligations’ to the country.
ArcelorMittal closed the blast furnaces in Florange in eastern France but wants to continue with its other operations there.
The minister told Les Echos that he is working on a project for the ‘temporary nationalization’ of that factory. The paper interprets that the government ‘plans to entrust management to a company from the industrial sector and connect it with a minority stake until activities stabilize.’
ArcelorMittal announced on October 1 that it would close the furnaces and gave the French government a two-month deadline to find a buyer. The deadline is soon expiring and tensions between the steel giant and France have sharply increased in the meantime as the government claims to have two offers, but only for the entire facility.
Mittal has ruled out that possibility, so Montebourg threatened temporary nationalization last week in a discussion before French senators.
Mittal warned that selling the entire plant in Florange would jeopardize the sustainability of its remaining activities in France, which, according to its own claims, employ 20,000 workers.
