12 June 2026 – Brussels is openly considering weakening the Emissions Trading System, ETS – putting Germany’s IG Metall in a massive dilemma from which there is no comfortable escape. WV Stahl demands energy subsidies – at the taxpayer’s expense. Base metals in Asia showed gains on Friday.
Base Metals Show Gains on Friday
Base metals in Asia showed gains on Friday. With the exception of lead, which moved slightly into negative territory, aluminum, nickel, copper, and tin posted modest increases. Zinc recorded the strongest gain, closing more than 2% higher.
Base metals in Europe also opened today’s trading session on a positive note, with slight gains.
EU ETS Reform: The Trade Unions and Their Dilemma
Brussels is openly considering weakening the Emissions Trading System – putting Germany’s IG Metall in a massive dilemma from which there is no comfortable escape.
What Is Being Debated
The EU and the German federal government are discussing an extension of the free allocation of ETS certificates – originally, this was supposed to be completely phased out by 2036. According to an internal EU document available to us, an extension is now under consideration.
The consequence would be a massive distortion of competition within the industry itself: large blast-furnace producers such as thyssenkrupp Steel Europe or ArcelorMittal would continue to receive full compensation for their CO2 emissions. Producers using the more efficient electric arc furnace route, EAF, would come away nearly empty-handed.
In other words, those who invested early in cleaner technology would be punished. Those who remain on the old path would be rewarded. It would be difficult to design more perverse incentives.
Saarland Against the Rest?
Saarland’s steel producers – close to the SPD, permeated by trade union influence, and modernized with 50% taxpayer funding – are up in arms against the planned weakening. Their position is clear: their business model is based on rising CO2 prices intended to make lower-emission steel competitive. If that mechanism disappears, the logic behind the investment stands on feet of clay.
IG Metall Völklingen has called for a major demonstration this Friday – according to media reports, up to 10,000 participants are expected.
The Trade Union Dilemma
At the same time, a second steel action day is taking place in Berlin, organized by the national IG Metall association – with up to 2,500 participants expected. The striking difference: the official Berlin announcement does not mention the EU ETS even once.
The dilemma is therefore laid bare. IG Metall represents employees at blast-furnace producers that would benefit from an extension of the ETS free allocation – while simultaneously representing employees at EAF producers that would be disadvantaged by it. Depending on the site and technology route, the interests of its own members are diametrically opposed.
A Clear Position from the Socialist Trade Unions?
A clear position from the socialist trade unions? Nowhere to be seen. Instead, they demonstrate against weakening the ETS in Saarland and remain silent about it in Berlin. That is not consistent trade union policy – it is organized indecision, typical of socialists.
When State Subsidy Systems Create Perverse Incentives for Decades
What is happening here is symptomatic: when state subsidy systems create perverse incentives for decades, dependencies arise – among companies, workforces, and trade unions.
In the end, everyone fights over the distribution of state-administered advantages, while the real question is pushed aside: why does the competitiveness of European steel producers depend on a CO2 pricing mechanism that Brussels can adjust at will?
WV Stahl Demands Energy Subsidies – at the Taxpayer’s Expense
The German steel producers’ association WV Stahl is demanding further relief from energy costs from the federal government. New regulatory flexibility from Brussels is to be used to push the electricity price permanently down to EUR 50 per MWh.
What the association avoids saying openly: this would have to be financed through further subsidies – and therefore by German taxpayers.
Correct Diagnosis, Wrong Prescription
There is no dispute that energy costs in Germany and across the EU are structurally too high. But the solution cannot be to shift the bill onto the general public yet again.
Permanently competitive energy prices can only be achieved through a fundamental reform of the German and European electricity markets – including the generation structure, without energy-policy ideology and without the next subsidy disguised as something else.
Anything else is merely treating the symptoms at the taxpayer’s expense.
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