Posted on 01 Dec 2025
The French Parliament has adopted the proposal to nationalise ArcelorMittal at an estimated cost of €3 billion ($3.46 billion), following a highly heated debate in the National Assembly on Thursday monitored by Kallanish.
A National Assembly source present during the debate confirms that all three articles of the draft law were approved, following the debate that lasted until midnight – with 127 votes in favour and 41 against.
The bill – opposed by the government – must now proceed to the Senate for confirmation, where it could be blocked by the conservative majority.
Kallanish reported in Friday’s newsletter that the first article of the bill had been adopted before press time (see Kallanish passim).
The debate was prompted by a bill from the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party calling for the nationalisation of ArcelorMittal. The push for nationalisation has come in recent months from unions and several political parties. In May, French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the government will not pursue nationalisation. This came in response to several strikes initiated by unions, to protest the announcement earlier this year of 600 job cuts by the steelmaker in France.
“Our bill to nationalise ArcelorMittal France has been adopted! Despite obstruction from the National Rally, we succeeded in getting this essential bill passed, a key step for ecological transition, our industrial sovereignty, and the protection of 80,000 jobs,” LFI wrote in a celebratory social media post, calling the midnight vote a “historic victory”. The estimated cost of €3 billion is nothing compared with the cost of losing expertise and independence, the party pointed out.
ArcelorMittal has acknowledged the vote. A company spokesperson stresses that nationalising ArcelorMittal would “in no way resolve the challenges facing the steel industry in France and Europe”.
Action is needed on the structural factors undermining competitiveness, the firm notes. Europe must defend its steel market from the flood of low-priced imports, swiftly enforcing the trade defence measures announced in October, and implementing an effective CBAM, it adds.
“Changing ArcelorMittal’s shareholder structure would do nothing to address these structural issues – quite the opposite. Breaking up French assets and separating them from the rest of the group would only severely worsen their situation,” the firm comments.
“Today, our sites in France remain resilient because they are part of the ArcelorMittal group: our major sites in Dunkirk and Fos-sur-Mer deliver less than 30% of their production to France, due to the deindustrialisation that has affected our country. Without European customers and without other ArcelorMittal companies to which we supply steel, our sites would be in a far more precarious position,” it adds.
“Being part of a strong and profitable global group also enables our French sites to continue benefiting from investments,” it notes.
The solution lies at the European level. “Nationalisation would be a false solution, and we will continue to explain this throughout the next stages of the legislative process for this proposed law,” the company concludes.
Source:Kallanish
