Étienne Schneider has expressed his amazement at how quickly the European Commission made its decision to approve Arcelor Mittal’s purchase of the Italian steelmaker Ilva, which was announced on 7 May 2018 (as reported on Delano).

The approval is conditional to the sale off the steelmaker’s Dudelange site as part of a divestment package to maintain competitive prices in the European steel markets. 

Schneider has never made any secret of his disapproval of this site being called into question.

According to an article published on Paperjam on 8 May 2018, he said, “I regret that the green light given by the commission has created uncertainty for employees.”