What’s next with the steel mill in Dudelingen?
On Thursday, the unions met with Minister of Economic Affairs Lex Delles to talk about the situation of the steel mill in Dudelingen. The Liberty Steel factory is closed and insolvent. A sale to a Turkish prospect recently failed. The contents of the conversation were not announced.
Now the two MPs Dan Biancalana and Mars di Bartolomeo, both LSAP, from Economics Minister Delles (DP) and Minister of Labor Georges Mischo (CSV) want to know in a parliamentary request, what reasons there were to ensure that the sale failed.
According to the ministers, the insolvency administrator said on May 6 that he would finally stop the takeover process. The potential buyer Tosyali had planned to obtain the steel, which he wanted to process in Luxembourg, via his steelworks in Turkey and Algeria, both countries outside the EU. However, since the EU protection measures that expire at the end of June 2026 are more expensive in the EU, this was apparently no longer possible.
140 employees are looking for new jobs
Compared to the « Luxembourg word », the insolvency administrator had declared that he would now speak to the other prospective buyers who had reported. The first concern of him is to satisfy the insolvency creditors. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor and Adem are in the search for the former 140 Liberty Steel employees in the search for a new job. They have been without an employment contract since the bankruptcy in November 2024.
« What does the government intend to do to save the company? » the deputies want to continue knowing. Because before the EU Commission had forced ArcelorMittal to sell the work to Liberty Steel for competitive reasons, it had worked profitably. How does the government also prevent further weakening of the industrial location?
The Ministry of Economic Affairs is in regular contact with Luxembourg industrial companies to promote innovations and investments, the ministerial answer from Thursday says. In order to support companies in the dual transformation – the digital and the energy transition – a wide range of instruments is also available.
Already when the Arcelormittal plant Düdelingen was sold to Liberty Steel, the then Luxembourg government had intervened at the EU Commission to prevent this sale. « A closure of the work would therefore also be a loss for the European steel industry, » said Minister of Economics Delles and Minister of Labor Mischo.
