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Vol. 1985/0148 
  
 
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concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique 
européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983, 
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In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983 
concerning the openi ng to the public of the historical archives of the European Econom ic 
Community and the European Atomic Energy Communit y (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as 
amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243, 
27.9.2003, p. 1), this f ile is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this 
file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation.  
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom  1. 
Februar 198 3 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen  
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgem einschaft (ABI. L 43 vom  15.2.1983,  
S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. Septem ber 2003  
(ABI. L 243 vom 27 .9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit  
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COMMISSION O F  TH E  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
C0M(85)384 final  
Brussels, 17 july 1985
S T R O N G E R  C O M M U N IT Y  S TR U C TU R A L M E A S U R E S  
T O  ASSIST STEEL R ESTR U C TU R IN G  A R E A S
(Communication from the Commission to the Council)
C0MC85)384 final

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S T R O N G E R  C O M M U N IT Y  S TR U C TU R A L M E A S U R E S  T O  ASSIST STEEL R ESTR U C TU R IN G
A R E A S
INTRODUCTION
1. With a  view to uniformity and consistency, the Commission is  
proposing in the firs t place a return to normal trading conditions by  
stages, through a carefully planned reduction of national aids and  
increasing liberalization of the market, and secondly measures to  
counteract the negative effects on employment which w ill flow from the  
restructuring of the steel industry.
After b riefly outlining the Community's very great efforts over the last  
few years in back-up measures to assist steel workers and regions, this  
Communication indicates the action which should be taken in the next  
few years.
I I .  T H E  OBJECTIVE
2. Between the beginning of 1975 and the end of 1984, 350 000 jobs  
were lost in the Community's steel industry, of which 33 000 disappeared  
in 1984. It  can also be estimated that at least as m any indirect jobs  
were lost.

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These job losses create particularly severe d iffic u ltie s  in the  
steel areas, mainly because their economic structure often  
depends on a  single industry and there are no prospects of  
alternative jobs, against a  background of more general economic  
crisis.
These d iffic u ltie s  are likely to increase in the next three or  
four years because it is essential to press ahead with plans to  
restructure steel enterpri ses.
Even though future losses will be less than in recent years, their  
occurrence in regions badly hit in the past will make matters even  
worse in those regions.
The problems w ill be further increased in som e areas where the  
restructuring of the coal industry w ill be coming on top of steel  
restructuring.
Consequently, for the next four years and longer if need be, job  
creation w ill have to be the prime objective of any back-up  
measures carried out by the Community in connection with the  
decisive effo rt to restructure the steel -industry.
III. EVALUATION O F  TH E  M E A S U R E S  IN P R O G R E S S  A N D  LE S S O N S  T O  B E  D R A W N
3. For the period 1981-84, financial resources of the order of  
6 700 m illion E C U  were mobilized by Community action to assist  
the E C S C  employment areas: som e 2  200 m illion of this s u m  w as
provided in 1984, approximately half as loans and half as  
subsidi es a

Community measures have been introduced in different forms:  
measures of general scope under structural assistance, and  
specific measures for steel restructuring.
Community action so far has comprised redeployment measures to  
assist steel workers affected by restructuring, and measures for  
directly encouraging the creation of alternative jobs (EC SC  
loans with interest-rate subsidies and E R D F  grants for industrial  
investment projects) and for creating more attractive conditions  
for other industries, especially infrastructure improvements  
financed mainly from E R D F  grants and EIB loans.
T h e  steel industry itself h a s  also received significant a m o u n ts  of financing.
4. The following lessons can be drawn from these measures:
Grants and loans for infrastructure projects have far exceeded  
those for productive investment to create or preserve jobs.
Although the provision of infrastructure also helps to create  
jobs, greater p rio rity  w ill be given to productive investment  
in the next few years.
The social measures which have hitherto accompanied restructuring in
the steel regions have been heavily concentrated on the financing
of early retirement by lowering the retirin g  age in the coal
and steel industries (for example to 50 years of age in France
and Ita ly ). This policy is reaching its lim its owing to the changing age

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pyramid in these industries and cannot be continued unless  
a new  slant is introduced to tackle the problem of retraining  
workers under the age of 50.
The Commission considers it  important that Community action should  
not be a substitute for national action, and therefore intends to  
use the integrated approach in order to ensure that Community  
assistance is more genuinely additional to national aid.
The Commission also intends to increase conversion loans,  
which are proving particularly useful, especially since their  
investment incentive effect is exerted d irectly on the enterprises.
To su m  up, the thrust of a ll measures in the steel areas undergoing  
restructuring must now  be increasingly directed, in accordance  
with the guidelines laid dow n in the Commission's work programme,  
to the creation of new jobs.
IV. PR O PO SA LS: S T R O N G E R  C O M M U N IT Y  ACTION
5. The continued restructuring of the steel industry and the  
worsening problems of certain regions demand stronger action by the  
Community.

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The Commission proposes stronger action in three respects:
in the areas where the problems stemming from job losses  
in steel are the most serious, an integrated approach including  
new  measures;
-  in a ll steel areas, increased use of loans (ECSC, NCI);
in a ll steel areas, new  measures to promote employment.
6. In a limited number of areas where the social and economic problems  
are the most complex and the most serious, the worst-hit areas,  
it w ill be necessary to adopt an integrated approach in agreement with  
the Mem ber States concerned; these areas must be determined by reference  
to the following c rite ria :
a large proportion of workers are employed in E C S C  industries;
the area  depends to a significant extent on E C S C  employment;
the restructuring of the steel industry has serious effects (job losses  
in steel, further losses likely in the next four years, generally high  
unemployment);
-  suitable structures are available in the area for coordinating and  
organizing conversion operations.
The coordinated approach aims at increasing the effectiveness of national
and Community resources;. concentrating them on p rio rity areas and
the most urgent forms of action requires close collaboration between Community

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bodies*, national bodies and regional bodies and with the two sides of  
industry, and w ill m ake it  possible to define the p rio ritie s  m ore  
precisely and to ensure a dovetailing of the various measures.
In the zones selected, an integrated programme of measures w ill be  
worked out which w ill pinpoint the various possible synergetic effects  
and provide a monitoring system for the conversion and development  
operations.
The Commission w ill decide in consultation with the Mem ber States  
concerned which steel areas require an integrated approach.
7. In a ll areas it  w ill be necessary to continue existing forms  
of action and where appropriate to create new  ones, particularly those  
likely to encourage job creation. The Commission intends to put the  
emphasis on the following:
- fa c ilita tin g  access by small and medium-sized businesses to risk  
capital and credit by using budget resources (ERDF) and other  
Community loan instruments (NCI, ECSC);
-  encouraging the establishment of new  Business and Innovation Centres  
under the E R D F  and budget Item 7731;
-  encouraging subcontracting at local level with E R D F  assistance;

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expanding financial aids to local employment in itia tiv e s , either under  
the Social Fund guidelines for 1986-88 or under E R D F  operations to  
promote indigenously generated development.
8. The Commission also proposes to increase in a ll areas E C S C  
subsidized conversion loans and NCI loans, particularly with a view  
to stepping up finance for job-creating investments. It  intends to  
give p rio rity in the steel areas to industrial loans to promote the  
marketing of steel, environmental protection and energy conservation.
9. These fresh forms of action and the conversion loans w ill be used  
primarily in the areas covered by an integrated approach but they m a y  
also be used in other steel areas where the situation so warrants.
V. FINANCIAL R E S O U R C E S
10. F irs t, given the scale of the resources deployed, the Commission  
plans to improve coordination in order to enhance th eir impact
along the lines set out in Part I I I .
Second, in certain very badly affected areas the Commission w ilt use  
the integrated approach, bringing the fu ll range of its  instruments  
into play in compliance with the p rio ritie s  laid down in their governing  
Regulations.

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Third, the Commission w ill organize funding for the new  measures in  
point 6, in a ll cases (except for interest-rate subsidies) under present  
Regulations governing the ERDF, the E S F  and the lending instruments  
(NCI and ECSC).
Fourth, the Commission plans to increase conversion Loans for steel  
areas by 200 m illion E C U  per year, and to increase interest-rate subsidies  
on conversion and NCI loans by 50 million E C U  per year.
F ifth , the Commission plans to increase industrial loans to promote  
the marketing of steel, environmental protection and energy conservation  
and to provide interest-rate subsidies of 20 m illion E C U  per year.
These increases w ill be covered by rechannelling present financial  
resources, those under the E R D F  Regulation and those under the E C S C  
budget.