Nationalizing ArcelorMittal to save the steel industry? The LFI proposal is being examined in the National Assembly

At the call of the CGT, some 200 employees, who came by bus from sites in the North and Moselle, demonstrated in the morning on the esplanade of the Invalides to support the text.

"The Mittal family has taken control of two-thirds of French steel production and ArcelorMittal is relocating production to India, the United States, and Brazil," denounced LFI MP Aurélie Trouvé, who will defend the text from 15:00 PM in the chamber.

Alongside him, CGT general secretary Sophie Binet dismissed the government's arguments against nationalization: "We are told (that) it costs a lot. Ten years of public aid is equivalent to the nationalization of Arcelor. So we are also here to say that this policy of blank checkbooks (...) has to stop," the union leader denounced.

With smoke bombs in hand, CGT activists set off firecrackers in this square located near the Assembly.

Some will take their seats in the stands, where LFI intends to "bring popular demands into the chamber" on the occasion of its annual day reserved for the examination of its parliamentary texts, explains the head of the insoumis deputies Mathilde Panot to AFP.

The left-wing group considers nationalization as "the only solution" to save the industry and its 15.000 direct jobs.

Objective: to counter the social plan announced in April and to revive the decarbonization of blast furnaces, otherwise French steel would become unprofitable as early as 2030, warns Aurélie Trouvé.

Estimated at three billion euros, the nationalization is facing opposition from the government.

"It is not because the State is going to write a check for 3 billion (...) that we are going to change competitiveness," said Economy Minister Roland Lescure on Wednesday.

First, we must "protect ourselves against product invasions, in this case from China," he added, specifying that he had obtained from the European Commission an investigation into this "dumping" and the increase in customs duties.

Employees' hopes were revived after the text was adopted in committee last week thanks to votes from the left, weak mobilization from the government camp and abstention from the RN.

RN obstruction

"Changing the shareholder of ArcelorMittal France would not change the structural problems in any way," reacted its CEO, Alain Le Grix de la Salle.

But there's no guarantee of a vote on Thursday.

The cause, in particular, is the deliberate obstruction by Marine Le Pen's group and her Ciotti allies, in retaliation for LFI's blocking of their texts in recent months.

With some 285 amendments tabled, 89% of them by the RN and UDR groups alone, the debates could drag on. And the vote must be held before midnight, the deadline for reviewing the texts.

"Today the RN is stabbing the workers of the Arcelor group in the back by blocking nationalization. The Bardella line is advancing," reacted Jean-Luc Mélenchon on X, referring to a supposed more liberal line embodied by the number 2 of the RN.

But several RN officials finally indicated that the Le Pen group should ultimately allow a vote on time by withdrawing amendments.

Last rush

The National Rally (RN), which captures a large portion of the working-class vote, opposes nationalization and accuses La France Insoumise (LFI) of giving workers "false hope." It advocates for a "golden share," a right of veto for the state over strategic decisions without direct management.

A "stupid" proposal, says Aurélie Trouvé, who believes it would not revive the investments necessary for the ecological transition and therefore for the survival of the sector.

Even if adopted, the text would have little chance of succeeding without government support, while a similar initiative led by the communists was already rejected in the Senate at the end of October.

But both unions and left-wing movements agree on increasing political pressure.

"We are in the final stretch. The steel plan is going through the European Parliament. It will be voted on December 3. So that means we have to keep up the pressure until then," emphasizes Gaëtan Lecocq, CGT delegate in Dunkirk.