ArcelorMittal to shut French steel furnaces: paper

PARIS (Reuters) - Steel maker ArcelorMittal has decided to definitively shut two idled steel furnaces in northern France, prompting the Socialist government to scramble to keep the plant operational as it battles rising unemployment, newspaper Liberation said.

Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg is due to visit the site at Florange, in the Moselle region close to Belgium and Germany, on Thursday.

Liberation reported, without citing its sources, that the Socialist government was negotiating with the world's largest steel maker to buy the two blast furnaces for a single euro so that it can then find a company willing to operate them.

The plant, which became a symbol of France's industrial decline during May's presidential election, is the last survivor of a once-bustling steel region after the neighboring ArcelorMittal mill of Gandrange was wound down despite former President Nicolas Sarkozy's promise to protect it.

Florange's furnaces were shuttered in July and October 2011 amid a slump in international steel prices.

Socialist President Francois Hollande had slammed Sarkozy's record on job creation during his successful campaign for the presidency. He vowed to revive a flagging industrial sector which has lost 750,000 jobs in the past decade.

Hollande, whose approval rating hit a fresh low of 46 percent at the weekend, has staked his reputation on reversing the upward trend in unemployment by the end of next year through state-sponsored job plans, more industrial investment and labor market reforms.

In a blow to Hollande, however, unemployment passed the psychological threshold of 3 million in August, its highest level since June 1999, data showed on Wednesday.

Amid complaints from business leaders over France's flagging competitiveness, several major companies have announced big layoffs in recent weeks, including carmaker Peugeot , retailer Carrefour and pharmaceutical firm Sanofi .

(Reporting By Daniel Flynn; editing by James Jukwey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arcelormittal-shut-french-steel-furnaces-paper-070235361--finance.html

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