Florange

When he swept to power last May on a wave of discontent, Francois Hollande could hardly have imagined that a year later he would be the most unpopular president in modern French history.

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal vowed on Friday to kick-start a 180-million-euro, five-year investment programme at its Florange site in eastern France in the first quarter of 2013, seeking to allay union concerns over job cuts.

A politically charged deal between the French government and ArcelorMittal to preserve jobs at an ailing steelworks looked at risk of unravelling on Thursday after the global steel giant ditched a bid to run an EU-funded project there.

A French minister cast doubt on Sunday on whether the world's top steelmaker ArcelorMittal would keep its end of the bargain after a compromise deal on a key plant that Paris had threatened to nationalise.

The two-month stand-off over steel giant ArcelorMittal's Florange plant in Lorraine has unnerved investors in the euro zone's second largest economy, confused France's unions and exposed his six-month-old government to international ridicule.

French trade unions accused President Francois Hollande of betrayal on Saturday after his government backed away from a threat to nationalise ArcelorMittal's Florange steelworks.

French trade unions accused President Francois Hollande of betrayal on Saturday after his government backed away from a threat to nationalise ArcelorMittal's Florange steelworks.

French Prime Minister Bernard Ayrault announced the government had shelved its nationalisation plan. In return, ArcelorMittal chief Lakshmi Mittal has promised to invest 180 million euros at the Florange site over the next five years and agreed to retain the 629 workers.

The French government and steelmaker ArcelorMittal are aiming to clinch a deal to save jobs and avoid a temporary nationalisation of the company's Florange steelworks, government sources said on Friday as a midnight deadline neared.

Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and the French government sought a last-ditch solution on Friday on the eve of the expiry of his deadline to the state to find a new buyer for a plant it has threatened to nationalise.

A top French business lobbyist branded government plans to take over ArcelorMittal's Florange steelworks as "scandalous" on Thursday, leading the government to accuse her of overlooking the company's practices.

Pressure is mounting on Lakshmi Mittal to give up the entire site at Florange in the east of France where the group wants to shut down a part of the site, two furnaces that employ 629 workers. The French government says Mittal will also have to give up the profitable part of the site which employs 2000 workers so that it can be sold to a new buyer....

The French government has found an industrialist willing to invest 400 million euros to renovate ArcelorMittal's Florange steelworks in northeast France, a minister said on Wednesday.

The French government has found an industrialist willing to invest 400 million euros to renovate ArcelorMittal's Florange steelworks in northeast France, a minister said on Wednesday.

France has said that talks with ArcelorMittal on finding a suitor for the steel giant's facilities in the country would continue till Saturday even as the government has threatened to nationalise the company's assets, according to media reports.

When he swept to power last May on a wave of discontent, Francois Hollande could hardly have imagined that a year later he would be the most unpopular president in modern French history.

Steelmaker ArcelorMittal vowed on Friday to kick-start a 180-million-euro, five-year investment programme at its Florange site in eastern France in the first quarter of 2013, seeking to allay union concerns over job cuts.

A politically charged deal between the French government and ArcelorMittal to preserve jobs at an ailing steelworks looked at risk of unravelling on Thursday after the global steel giant ditched a bid to run an EU-funded project there.

A French minister cast doubt on Sunday on whether the world's top steelmaker ArcelorMittal would keep its end of the bargain after a compromise deal on a key plant that Paris had threatened to nationalise.

The two-month stand-off over steel giant ArcelorMittal's Florange plant in Lorraine has unnerved investors in the euro zone's second largest economy, confused France's unions and exposed his six-month-old government to international ridicule.

French trade unions accused President Francois Hollande of betrayal on Saturday after his government backed away from a threat to nationalise ArcelorMittal's Florange steelworks.

French trade unions accused President Francois Hollande of betrayal on Saturday after his government backed away from a threat to nationalise ArcelorMittal's Florange steelworks.

French Prime Minister Bernard Ayrault announced the government had shelved its nationalisation plan. In return, ArcelorMittal chief Lakshmi Mittal has promised to invest 180 million euros at the Florange site over the next five years and agreed to retain the 629 workers.

The French government and steelmaker ArcelorMittal are aiming to clinch a deal to save jobs and avoid a temporary nationalisation of the company's Florange steelworks, government sources said on Friday as a midnight deadline neared.

Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and the French government sought a last-ditch solution on Friday on the eve of the expiry of his deadline to the state to find a new buyer for a plant it has threatened to nationalise.

A top French business lobbyist branded government plans to take over ArcelorMittal's Florange steelworks as "scandalous" on Thursday, leading the government to accuse her of overlooking the company's practices.

Pressure is mounting on Lakshmi Mittal to give up the entire site at Florange in the east of France where the group wants to shut down a part of the site, two furnaces that employ 629 workers. The French government says Mittal will also have to give up the profitable part of the site which employs 2000 workers so that it can be sold to a new buyer....

The French government has found an industrialist willing to invest 400 million euros to renovate ArcelorMittal's Florange steelworks in northeast France, a minister said on Wednesday.

The French government has found an industrialist willing to invest 400 million euros to renovate ArcelorMittal's Florange steelworks in northeast France, a minister said on Wednesday.

France has said that talks with ArcelorMittal on finding a suitor for the steel giant's facilities in the country would continue till Saturday even as the government has threatened to nationalise the company's assets, according to media reports.