The state should not open the wallet for the crisis-ridden steel company Stegra, believes the chairman of the business committee Tobias Andersson (SD).
“For me, it is clear that the public sector has already invested more than is reasonable in Stegra,” he writes in a text message.
Stegra has previously received government funding through, among other things, a so-called green credit guarantee from the National Debt Office of SEK 13 billion.
When the company is now trying to raise more money, the state should not be involved in investing, believes Tobias Andersson (SD), chairman of the industry committee.
“For me, it is clear that the public sector has already invested more than is reasonable in Stegra. Existing owners are responsible for any additional capital injection”he writes in a text message.
Stegra’s idea is to produce steel using hydrogen gas, which means very small emissions of greenhouse gases. The steel mill is to be located in Boden, it is thought. But after Northvolt’s bankruptcy, Stegra has now set sail as the next green project in the north fighting for its survival.
“Postponed the bankruptcy by a month”
A bankruptcy likely means that billions of taxpayers’ money will be lost. That is one reason why the state must continue to be active, says the Social Democrats’ energy and business policy spokesperson Fredrik Olovsson to Sveriges Radio.
– Avoiding bankruptcy is very important and then you also need instruments and tools for this politically. And the government has actually gotten rid of them.
Olovsson refers to the government’s decision to pause the green credit guarantees next year.
However, Tobias Andersson does not see additional state support as a long-term way to avoid bankruptcy, and draws a parallel to Northvolt.
“Had the state stepped in with purely hypothetical state aid (which was probably not approved according to the EU’s state aid rules) in Northvolt, it might have postponed the bankruptcy by a month, but the outcome would have been the same with the only difference being that the tax collective lost more.”
