Over 100 MEPs require firm measures to save the steel industry. “For Romania, the stake is huge”
An important approach to the future of the steel industry in the European Union, with direct implications for Romania, was launched today in the European Parliament. Over 100 MEPs from the main political groups have signed a letter to the European Commission, requesting a new commercial protection for this strategic sector.
105 MEPs ask for firm measures to save the steel industry
The initiative was coordinated by the Romanian MEP Dan Nica, as coordinator of the Socialist and Democrats Group in the Commission for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), together with its counterparts in the PPE and Renew groups, Christian Ehler and Christophe Grudler.
The letter requests the adoption of a package of measures to enter into force from January 2026 and to include:
– a new commercial protection framework, operational from January 2026;
– limiting imports to sustainable levels, comparable to the period before the overcapacity crisis;
– clear rates for imports that exceed the established quotas;
– Covering all the relevant products, including steel derivatives, and applying the “Melted and Pored” rule to avoid circumscing measures.
“It is a clear political signal and a call to immediate action. We ask the European Commission to protect the steel industry in Europe, an essential sector for our industrial sovereignty. For Romania, the stake is huge: the future of the Galați Combined and the thousands of families that depend on it”, Declared the MEP Dan Nica.
105 MEPs from S&D, PPE and Renew groups have supported the initiative by co-seign, which reflects a wide political support in the European Parliament.
If the required measures are implemented, they could contribute to the consolidation of the steel industry in front of the unfair competition outside the EU, to maintaining jobs and keeping an important industrial pillar for the European economy.
The Sidex brand, “stolen” by a businessman with huge debts
The combination referred to by MEP Dan Nica is the former Sidex Galați, of which Remus Borza, the president of Euroinsol SPRL – part of the Concordary Consortar of Liberty Galati, said two weeks ago that “”The Sidex brand was registered on behalf of a businessman from Năvodari ”.
“Following some checks at the Ministry of Justice, my colleagues found that there is a company registered in Năvodari. Moreover, even the brand is registered by that creative Romanian. The Sidex brand was taken by a Romanian from Năvodari. If we go to buy it, it will ask for a million euros on it.
We could return to a name by which, in the end, it is also known: the Galati steel combined. I hope we have no surprise here, to see that there is still a steel combination Galati in Deva or that the brand is also registered with OSIM on behalf of someone else. But in the end, this is a less important aspect, the society can be called anyway, it is important to have capital, that is to bring money ”said the president of Euroinsol.
As an irony of fate, the companies Laboratory Sidex SRL, Sidex SRL and Sidex Steel SRL are owned by a local councilor from Constanța who has accumulated millions of lei and which is executed by ANAF, wrote the source.
How was the brand alienated
The Galati Cergory Combined (Official Liberty Galați, former ArcelorMittal Galați and Sidex Galați) is the largest steel combination in Romania.
It was bought by LNM Holdings NV in November 2001, from the Romanian state. The value of the transaction was $ 70 million. The transaction included investment commitments of $ 351 million and a $ 100 million work capital.
Between 2004 and 2019, Sidex Galați was part of Mittal Steel, a company formed by the merger of LNM Holdings NV and Ispat International NV after the merger between Mittal Steel and Arcelor, in 2006, from which ArcelorMittal resulted, the name of the combined was changed to ArcelorMittal Galați.
In 2019, the Liberty House Group founded by the British of Indian origin Sanjeev Gupta (part of the GFG Alliance group), bought from ArcelorMittal the Galati steel combination with 6 other European units for 740 million euros.
Preventive agreement
In March 20255, the Galați Court ordered the opening of the preventive agreement provided by Law no. 85/2014 against the debtor Liberty Galati SA by the same decision, the consortium consorted consisted of SPRL and Sierra Quadrant SPRL was appointed.
Liberty Galati SA is operating in the field of steel production, having as main activity: CAEN 2410 – Ferrous Metal Production and Feroalias
Also read: The moment when Ceausescu cuts the ribbon at Sidex Galaţi. It's been over half a century since then
With a production capacity of 3 million tonnes of steel a year, Liberty Galați is the largest integrated steel producer and a main pillar of the Romanian economy.
With a rich history, the company started producing steel over 55 years ago. In 2021 Liberty Galați reached the highest level of production in the last 10 years, with a total production volume of 2.35 million tonnes of liquid steel.
Liberty Galați has a complex portfolio of quality flat steel products, such as thick sheet, hot rollers and sheets, cold laminated, galvanized and preventive, but also welded tubular products, delivering steel to customers from Romania and about 30 countries from all over the world. Steel products manufactured in Galați are used in many sectors of activity, including in the defense and naval sector, in the field of construction, transport, car and for pressure containers.
Liberty Galați brand products have been used in many of the major infrastructure projects of Romania, including: the new bridge over the Danube in Braila, which is the third largest in Europe; The railway bridge that connects the “Henri Coandă” International Airport to the National Road 1 (DN1) and the bridges over the Mureș river that are part of the A10 Sebeș – Turda highway. Also, the steel from Galați was used in the construction of the “Osman Gazi” bridge in Turkey, which crosses the Izmit bay, and at the pedestrian bird at the Koge Nord station in Denmark.
