STEEL INDUSTRY IN NEW EU MEMBER STATES IN COMPARISON WITH THE GLOBAL TRENDS

Accession of the metallurgically significant countries of the Central and Eastern Europe to the EU in 2004 was conditioned by fulfilling the Restructuring Programs as the foundation for achievement of competitiveness and guarancy of viability. The Restructuring Programs, which fulfilling and regular monitoring had lasted 5 years, demonstrated the right of the significant position of the steel industry in the new EU members, especially in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and in Hungary. The objective of the article is to point to the key elements in context of steel industry global trends, regarding either production or especially utility values and total consumption. In this connection, privatization took an important role too.