Lakshmi Mittal, French govt strike deal over disputed Florange unit

December 1, 2012

Mittal

Paris, December 1: Steel giant ArcelorMittal and the French government have reached an agreement on the persisting deadlock over the company's plans to shut down two furnaces in Florange and the government's nationalisation plan of the site.

French Prime Minister Bernard Ayrault announced on Friday night that the government had shelved its nationalisation plan. In return, ArcelorMittal chief Lakshmi Mittal has promised to invest 180 million euros at the Florange site over the next five years and agreed to retain the 629 workers.

"Since its installation, this government has worked without respite so that the industrial site in Florange continues to survive and develop and to make sure that the workers are protected. The government had three aims - no layoffs, significant investment in the site and the maintenance of the furnaces of Florange to prepare for a future industrial project, ULCOS," Mr Ayrault said in Paris.


"ArcelorMittal have accepted the stated conditions. Tonight I can announce there will be no layoffs at Florange. The Mittal group has committed to investing at least 180 million euros in Florange over the next five years," he said.

ArcelorMittal wanted to shut down two furnaces of the site that were not profitable, triggering a huge controversy in France. France's Industrial Recovery Minister Arnaud Montebourg had threatened to nationalise the site until a new buyer was found. He also accused Mr Mittal of lying, saying he does not respect France and should therefore leave the country.

Mr Mittal gave in to the pressure that was building up before the Friday night deadline for closure. The French government wanted to find a buyer for the Florange site but said ArcelorMittal would have to give up the entire site, including the profitable part and not just the two furnaces they wanted to shut down.

Finally, a compromise was reached between ArcelorMittal and the French governement. This will be seen as a political triumph for President Francois Hollande, who had promised to save the workers' jobs. This is perhaps not a big loss for Mr Mittal, given that two thirds of his European business is based in France. Much of it is also profitable due to its proximity to the German auto industry.

"In France people tend to believe that the point of view of the state has to prevail against private interest. We are in a country where we have a statist culture. The other problem is that Mr Mittal made a lot of promises when he bought Arcelor. One of them was that he would make European management in charge of European interests and he didn't stick to his promise," said French economist Elie Cohen.

The workers at Florange, however, are not celebrating. They say they do not trust Mr Mittal's plan and are disappointed that there will be no nationalisation of the site. This despite assurances from Mr Mittal that 180 million euros will be invested and no jobs will be lost.

The sites ArcelorMittal have shutdown in Belgium and France so far were part of the group's strategy to tackle losses from over-capacity and low demand in the European steel industry. However, ArcelorMittal are likely to see this as an investment to boost its image in France.



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News Network
June 13,2020

Paris, Jun 13: The coronavirus pandemic has killed 425,000 people since it emerged in China late last year, according to an AFP tally of official sources at 0130 GMT on Saturday.

A total of 425,282 deaths have now been recorded from 7,632,517 cases.

Europe has registered 186,843 deaths from 2,363,538 cases, but the epidemic is progressing most rapidly in Latin America, where there have been a total of 76,343 deaths recorded from 1,569,938 cases.

The United States remains the country with the most recorded deaths at 114,643, ahead of Brazil which on Friday became the second worst-hit nation with 41,828 deaths. Britain is next with 41,481 deaths, followed by Italy (34,223) and France (29,374).

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Agencies
July 24,2020

The total number of global coronavirus cases has topped 15.4 million, while the deaths have increased to over 631,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Friday morning, the total number of cases stood at 15,439,456, while the fatalities rose to 631,926, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities at 4,034,831 and 144,242, respectively, according to the CSSE.

Brazil came in the second place with 2,287,475 infections and 84,082 deaths.

In terms of cases, India ranks third (1,238,798), and is followed by Russia (793,720), South Africa (408,052), Peru (371,096), Mexico (370,712), Chile (334,683), the UK (298,721), Iran (284,034), Spain (270,166), Pakistan (269,191), Saudi Arabia (260,394), Italy (245,338), Turkey (223,315), Colombia (218,428), France (216,667), Bangladesh (216,110), Germany (204,881), Argentina (148,027), Canada (114,398), Qatar (108,244) and Iraq (102,226), the CSSE figures showed.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the UK (45,639), Mexico (41,908), Italy (35,092), France (30,185), India (29,861), Spain (28,429), Iran (15,074), Peru (17,654) and Russia (12,873).

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Agencies
July 17,2020

Washington, Jul 17: US President Donald Trump's economic adviser Larry Kudlow has said that TikTok may cut off ties to its Chinese parent and become a 100 per cent American company to circumvent demands to ban it as India has done.

"I think TikTok is going to pull out of the holding company which is China-run and operate as an independent American company," he told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

The US has not made a final decision on whether to ban it - which has been suggested by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he said.

TikTok being divested by ByteDance Technology Company "is a much better solution than banning or pushing away", said Kudlow, who is the Director of the National Economic Council.

He said that its services will be located in the US and "it will become an hundred per cent American company".

If it becomes a US company without Chinese links, India may have to reconsider the ban on the short video app wildly popular in the country.

India banned TikTok along with 58 other Chinese apps on June 29 citing threats to its defence and national security.

The ban came after a deadly clash between Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.

Under Beijing's National Security Law, all Chinese companies have to provide intelligence requested by the government, creating risks for users and their countries.

India was TikTok's biggest market outside of China, where it operates as Douyin.

There were about 200 million users in India and over 300 million downloads.

The US comes next with over 30 million users for the app.

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