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Steelmaking in France
法國的鋼鐵制造
Cross over Lorraine
聚焦洛林
The closure of a steelmaking plant annoys the new president
鋼鐵廠的關閉令新總統煩惱
AMONG the first visitors to the Elysee Palace after Franois Hollande's victory in the French presidential election last month were trade-union leaders from ArcelorMittal's steel factory at Florange, in Lorraine.
上個月Franois Hollande贏得法國總統選舉后愛麗舍宮的第一批訪客中就有來自洛林Florange地區Arcelor Mittal鋼鐵廠的工會領袖。
The region is the crucible of France's traditional heavy industry:
此地是法國傳統重工業的熔爐：
people have been making iron in Lorraine for more than 300 years.
人們在洛林煉鐵已超過300年。
But the blast-furnace fires started to go out last year when recession slashed demand for steel and forced Arcelor Mittal,
但是當去年的衰退嚴重削弱了鋼鐵的需求時，高爐的爐火開始熄滅，
the world's biggest steelmaker by some distance, to start closing its least efficient plants.
幾乎是世界最大的鋼鐵廠ArcelorMittal被迫開始關閉它效率不高的工廠。
By October both Florange's furnaces had been snuffed out, supposedly for a year.
10月份時Florange的高爐已經停產，估計持續一年。
Last month the company said they would stay cool for another six months.
上個月公司說他們將再停爐6個月。
The unions fear that they will never be fired up again and that steelmaking on a symbolic site will come to an end.
工會擔心公司再也不會恢復生產，具有象征意義的鋼鐵制造區將終結。
After the union leaders' visit Mr Hollande asked Arnaud de Montebourg, the minister for productivity,
與工會領袖會晤后，Hollande先生要求生產部長Arnaud de Montebourg 找一個專家評估Florange的前景，
to get an expert to review the prospects for Florange and to request the governments of Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain to “act together vis-a-vis ArcelorMittal”—whatever that means.
同時要求比利時，德國，盧森堡和西班牙“共同行動vis-a-vis ArcelorMittal”-不管那意味著什么。
Union fears are probably well founded:
工會的擔心可能成真：
ArcelorMittal has labelled Florange and its plants at Liege, in Belgium, “non-core”.
ArcelorMittal已經把Florange和它在比利時Liege的工廠標記為“非核心”。
The company has already started the cumbersome, two-year process needed under Belgian labour law to close Liege permanently.
公司已經開始周轉不靈，按比利時勞動法永久關閉Liege需要2年時間。
Although it describes the Florange shutdown as temporary, it plainly wants to close that plant for good too, although it is loth to say so in public.
盡管Florange的關閉被說成是暫時的，但很明顯公司也想永久關閉該工廠，只是它不愿公開這么說。
With overcapacity in Europe and consolidation worldwide, only modern, coastal steelworks can compete.
隨著歐洲生產過剩和世界范圍內的兼并，只有現代化的，位于海邊的鋼材有競爭力。
Older, inland sites, originally built atop iron-ore mines, are now seeing the world pass them by.
較老的，位于內陸的，起初建在鐵礦附近的鋼廠現在已經落伍了。
Pressure to close less efficient plants has increased since Arcelor and Corus, both European firms, were merged into the global Mittal and Tata empires in the past five years and since recession put an end to a steel boom.
自從兩家歐洲公司Arcelor和Corus在過去5年被global Mittal和Tata帝國合并，自從衰退結束了鋼鐵業的繁榮，關閉效率低下的工廠的壓力增加了。
But the Florange site has more than just blast furnaces:
但是Florange不僅僅有高爐：
they employ only about 500 workers out of a total of 2,700.
高爐只雇傭了總數2700人中的500人。
The rest are in rolling mills that prepare finished steel for the car and construction industries or in research and development.
其余的人軋鋼廠工作，軋鋼廠生產用于汽車，建筑工業的精煉鋼，其中一部分人從事研發工作。
With the blast furnaces shut, steel slabs are shipped inland from the company's coastal furnaces at Dunkirk.
高爐被關閉后，鋼厚板由公司位于敦刻爾克的海邊鋼廠運到內陸來。
But that in turn is less efficient than doing everything at integrated coastal sites, such as Dunkirk, which import ore at one end and roll out finished steel at the other.
但是那樣做與把所有工作都集中于沿海地區相比低效，比如在敦刻爾克，一端輸入鐵礦石，另一端產出精煉鋼。
So the fear is that in the long term even the rolling mills at Florange are doomed.
因此令人擔心的是長期而言Florange軋鋼廠的關閉是不可避免的。
Since the first blast furnace closed last summer the workers have been mounting periodic protests in Florange and in Paris.
自從去年夏天第一座高爐關閉以來，工人們定期在Florange和巴黎舉行抗議。
The accession of Mr Hollande's Socialist government has brought them powerful friends, or at least demonstrative ones:
Hollande先生的社會黨政府的上任使他們有了強大的朋友，或至少表明了這一點：
Aurelie Filippetti, the minister of culture, turned up outside the mill to toast the protesters with champagne.
文化部長Aurelie Filippetti出現在工廠外用香檳向抗議者敬酒。
Meanwhile, Arcelor Mittal says it has had no contact with the Elysee Palace.
同時，ArcelorMittal表明他沒有接觸愛麗舍宮。
The company, which has its headquarters in London and Luxembourg, employs 300,000 people—20,000 in France, where it is a leading foreign investor.
公司分別在倫敦及盧森堡擁有總部，共雇用了300,000人-20,000人在法國，對法國是個重要的投資者。
Its foreign ownership may be one reason why it is under fire from the new government, but French firms could also be shot at,
它的外國投資者身份可能是它被新上臺的政府攻擊的一個原因，
once this month's parliamentary elections are out of the way.
但是一旦這個月的議會選舉出現異常，法國公司同樣可能被攻擊。
PSA Peugeot-Citren, Air France-KLM and Carrefour are on a long list of firms said by unions to be preparing to announce mass redundancies.
PSA Peugeot-Citren, Air France-KLM和Carrefour公司都在工會傳出的準備進行大規模裁員的一長列的公司清單中。
