"Our perspective is that there is a long-term entrepreneurial perspective here that secures steel production in Germany. And you can't do that without first making it clear that there really will be investment here," said the SPD politician on Tuesday in Duisburg during a visit to the company. "We have questions. We insist on investments and long-term support for production here, which can and must be economical, but which requires that investments are made here and not just money is taken out."
At the end of January, Kretinsky's EP Group confirmed its interest in increasing its stake in the steel group from its current 20 percent. This would require an agreement with Thyssenkrupp AG and the trade unions. IG Metall had already sent Kretinsky a list of questions months ago.
(Report by Andreas Rinke; edited by Kerstin Dörr. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).