A strategic industrial heritage
The European steel value chain is one of the pillars of the continent’s industrial system. It is not merely the production of raw material, but a complex and highly specialized ecosystem that includes transformation, high value-added processing, components manufacturing, electromechanics and advanced manufacturing.
This value chain supports strategic sectors for the European economy and industrial security: energy, automotive, electromechanics, infrastructure, power distribution, e-mobility and manufacturing industries. It is a heritage built on technical skills, industrial know-how, production culture and qualified employment.
Defending the steel value chain therefore means defending European industrial autonomy, global competitiveness and long-term innovation capacity.
An increasingly critical market context
In recent years, the balance of the international steel market has been deeply altered. The growth of global overcapacity, concentrated mainly in Asia and the Middle East, has generated major competitive distortions.
In this scenario, extra-EU competition — particularly from China — operates through market dynamics that produce dumping practices, margin compression and loss of competitiveness for European companies.
The effects impact the entire value chain, not only steel producers:
- processors
- stamping companies
- component manufacturers
- semi-finished product producers
- electromechanical manufacturers
- final industrial users
The consequence is a progressive weakening of the European industrial base, with concrete risks of production delocalization, industrial capacity dismantling and structural loss of skills.
These processes, once started, are extremely difficult to reverse.
The creation of ESN – Electromechanics Synergy Network
It is within this context that ESN – Electromechanics Synergy Network was founded, as a European alliance of companies operating across the steel and electromechanical value chain.
The project was initiated by Franco Felisa, entrepreneur and founder of Trancerie Emiliane, with a clear vision: to unite European companies across the entire value chain in order to build a common, credible and structured voice capable of engaging with European institutions and contributing to effective industrial policies.
ESN is not just a business network, but a strategic industrial project aimed at:
- protecting the European value chain
- defending qualified employment
- safeguarding technological know-how
- strengthening industrial competitiveness
- preserving European production autonomy
The Joint Statement: a clear and strong position
In December 2025, ESN and a wide group of European companies and associations signed the Joint Statement “Safeguarding the European Steel Value Chain: A Call for a political Commitment from the European Commission to protect steel derivatives.”
The document represents a strong and clear position:
- European deindustrialization is accelerating
- global overcapacity is reaching record levels
- unfair international competition is eroding competitiveness, investments and jobs
- the entire value chain, not only primary steel production, is under pressure
The Joint Statement highlights that protecting basic steel products alone is not sufficient. Without extending protection to steel derivatives and transformed products, the risk is the progressive hollowing out of the European industrial value chain, transferring value, skills and jobs outside Europe.
A structured two-step strategy is therefore proposed:
Step 1 – Immediate action
Adoption and implementation of European measures on steel products to restore fair competition and market stability.
Step 2 – Value chain protection
Extension of protection policies to steel derivatives and steel-intensive products, involving downstream industries and the entire value chain.
The goal is to protect not only primary production, but the entire European industrial ecosystem.
Why Orange1 joins ESN
Orange1 decided to join ESN because it fully shares this vision.
Defending the steel value chain is not only an industrial choice, but a strategic decision for Europe’s future.
We believe that concrete actions are needed today, not tomorrow, to protect:
- European competitiveness
- jobs
- technical skills
- industrial know-how
- production capacity
If European companies are forced to delocalize or dismantle production capacity, we will face irreversible industrial decisions, with structural impacts on employment, value chains and territories.
Industrial skills cannot be rebuilt quickly. Lost production capacity is not automatically recovered. Losing the value chain means losing industrial sovereignty.
A shared responsibility
ESN represents a new model of European industrial cooperation: companies of different sizes, sectors and countries, united by a shared vision.
A vision based on:
- cooperation
- industrial responsibility
- strategic thinking
- institutional dialogue
- sustainable industrial policy building
For Orange1, being part of ESN means actively contributing to the construction of a stronger, more autonomous, more competitive and more resilient European industry.