Overview
- Strasbourg’s commercial court is due to rule this morning, with the favored Metal Blanc consortium expected to keep only the Leffrinckoucke plant and leave Hagondange, Custines and Saint-Étienne facing liquidation.
- Under the preferred bid, about 144 of roughly 700 jobs would be retained, putting more than 550 positions at risk, including around 430–450 in Hagondange.
- The government has ruled out nationalization for now, seeking to secure the industrial land to prevent asset stripping and to line up new investors.
- Workers at Hagondange have staged protests with tire fires and a slow-drive convoy on the A31, shifting their demands toward stronger exit packages.
- An alternative offer from Europlasma sought all sites but was assessed as weak and would have saved only about 75 jobs at Hagondange, as Novasco undergoes a fourth judicial recovery in a sector pressured by energy costs and foreign competition.