U.S. Steel to leave Europe?

The United States Steel Corporation (U.S. Steel) has announced in a release that it will decide by the year's end whether to withdraw from Europe, that is, whether to continue to operate in Kosice, Slovakia.

It was also announced earlier that the U.S. company was considering the sale of its last Europe-based steel mill because of EU environmental regulations, given that it would cost U.S. Steel around half a billion US dollars to implement them.

Slovakian Economy Minister Tomas Malatinsky said that Slovakia would fight to keep the U.S. steel giant in Kosice by offering it a compromise on taxes and prices.

There is a fear in Slovakia that the prospective new owner of the Kosice steel mill - Ukraine's Metinvest, owned by Rinat Akhmetov, will most probably find it unnecessary to keep all 11,000 employees.

As assessed by the trade union of that steel meel, the Ukrainian company could be interested in the rolling mill only, which would put as many as 7,000 workers at U.S. Steel in danger of losing the job.

U.S. Steel bought the steel mill in Kosice in November 2000, while the Slovakian government backed that investment by giving the U.S. company a 10-year tax holiday.

U.S. Steel sold its steelworks in Serbia last year, the media in Slovakia reminded.