BRUSSELS/ESSEN (dpa-AFX) ? EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is campaigning for stronger action against cheap imports from countries such as China in view of the livelihood concerns of steel workers in North Rhine-Westphalia. "We must do more to prevent European companies from being forced out of the market by unfair dumping and we must tackle overcapacity on the global market driven by massive subsidies," she told the German Press Agency in Brussels on Tuesday. She supported the idea of a future strategy to secure competitive, clean steel for strategic industries in Europe. "Steel production is an indispensable sector for Europe. Clean steel is the future, it must and will have its place in Europe," she argued.

The background to the concerns of steelworkers in North Rhine-Westphalia is, among other things, the announcement by Thyssenkrupp that the steel division is to acquire a 20% co-owner, the holding company EPCG owned by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. Employee representatives criticized the fact that they only found out about this shortly before the announcement was made. This Tuesday, thousands of employees from Thyssenkrupp's steel division gathered in Duisburg for a demonstration against the management's actions. The works council and the IG Metall trade union had called for participation.

NRW Minister President Hendrik Wüst (CDU) is calling on the Thyssenkrupp Executive Board to involve employees in the future strategy for the steel division. "I expect the company management to draw up a plan for the future that is based on the successful tradition of our country: Involvement of co-determination, close cooperation between the social partners," Wüst told the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung" (Tuesday)./aha/DP/jha