Brussels starts investigation against Serbia over the dumping price of steel

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As the website of the European Commission reports, the anti-dumping procedure has been started for steel which was coming to the European Union from Brazil, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.

What was the cause for such a reaction by the European officials? Formally, the European Steel Association complained to the Brussels administration back in May 23 that several non-member states had been selling steel at prices lower than the market price, which had caused the European producers to make losses.

Before an agreement was signed with Hesteel on April 18 in Smederevo on the takeover of the property of Zelezara Smederevo, there were speculations in Serbia about whether Brussels would greenlight the signing of the document.

The speculations were intensified by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who pointed out the Brussels’ support was needed several week prior to the official signing of the agreement.

Politika wrote at the time that the European Union had no way of stopping the signing of a commercial agreement between the two companies, which are outside of the EU anyway, but also pointed out the Brussels’ supervision would begin only after Hesteel took over the steel mill.

Politika warned that Brussels had formal mechanisms by which it could make it harder for the Chinese to access the European market.

These mostly pertain to the Protocol 5 of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, more precisely, the administrative assistance in customs matters.