Letter to Shareholders

The coming months will be suspenseful ones for Europe. The key question will be whether it will actually be successful in achieving an economic turnaround on a comparatively broad-based level for the first time in years. Expressed in numbers, this would mean that the European Union would again attain a growth rate of close to two percent of its gross domestic product.

There are, however, several prerequisites in order for this to happen. First of all, the “crisis countries”—viewed realistically, with the exception of Greece—will have to finally be successful in getting their economic problems under control; after having gone through painful structural changes, this is within the range of possibility for practically all of them. Secondly—and closely connected to the previous point—the economic revival will depend on whether the expectations placed in the EU Commission’s “EUR 315 billion package” with regard to broad-based investment incentives will actually take on concrete form in the coming months. And finally, European growth in the medium to long term will depend strongly on the conduct and positioning of the political decision-makers at the “climate summit” in Paris this coming December.

One thing, however, should definitely be clear to all the European representatives in Paris: if the climate protection efforts already being made by European industry—which are exceptional in a global comparison—continue to be increasingly penalized and not rewarded in any way (in other words, should Europe believe that it must continue along the path of unilateral efforts by industry), the subject of climate protection measures and technologies by industry on the old continent will marginalize itself within a generation. Against the backdrop of global cost pressure, industry will then quite simply no longer be able to afford Europe as a location. Then, providing an answer to the question of what this ultimately means for the political, social, and societal development of the European Union, for employment, and for the economic landscape will no longer be up to the decision-makers in business and industry, but to the political decision-makers. In any case, this attitude does a grave disservice to climate protection issues; nowhere in the world does industry operate under such strict environmental regulations for climate protection as in Europe.

For the voestalpine Group, the development of framework conditions in Europe in the areas of the environment, climate, and energy will certainly be a key criterion that the Group will use to come to fundamental decisions regarding investments that must be contemplated in the coming years.

Linz, August 4, 2015

The Management Board