Owner of Stahl Gerlafingen disappointed by the Federal Council
Published: Sunday, Oct 13th 2024, 03:40
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The owner of Stahl Gerlafingen, Antonio Beltrame, has expressed his disappointment with the Federal Council. He does not want to give up the steelworks. However, the Swiss state and energy policy would ultimately force him to do so, as Beltrame said in an interview.
In an interview with the "NZZ am Sonntag" newspaper, Beltrame said that the steelworks had informed Federal Councillors Albert Rösti and Guy Parmelin about problematic framework conditions at an early stage. Stahl Gerlafingen is a subsidiary of the Italian Beltrame Group, of which he is Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Beltrame confirmed in an interview that over a hundred people will once again be made redundant in Gerlafingen SO. According to information from the commercial association and the trade unions Syna and Unia on Friday, 120 employees are affected. There were already 60 job cuts in the spring.
Risk of closure
If the general conditions do not change, there is a risk of closure, said Beltrame. "I am an entrepreneur. I can't lose money every day," said the company owner. Federal Councillors Rösti and Parmelin are aware of this. He does not want his statement to be understood as a threat. He is simply providing information about the difficult situation.
"Incidentally, we don't want any subsidies either," he said, demanding the same conditions as the competition. The steelworks had lost a lot of money in 2023 due to the rise in energy costs. France and Italy had made electricity cheaper for industry during this time, said Beltrame.
At the end of September, the National Council called for immediate assistance for the endangered steelworks in Gerlafingen. The Federal Council was instructed to take immediate measures together with the canton of Solothurn and the company to save the plant. The National Council did not want to rule out emergency measures.
Federal Council rejects state funding
The Federal Council had previously rejected state subsidies for individual companies or sectors. Instead, it is focusing on better framework conditions and - as far as sectors with high electricity consumption are concerned - on energy and climate policy measures.
Parmelin does not consider the steel industry to be systemically relevant, as the Minister of Economic Affairs told Swiss radio SRF in March. Beltrame now refuted this: Switzerland needs construction steel. "We are absolutely central and systemically relevant to Switzerland's circular economy," he told the newspaper.
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