Euro News reported that French President François Hollande and steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal have vowed to continue talking over the future of a plant in the north east of the country.
The owner of ArecelorMittal met the president at the Elysee Palace having theatened to shut down part of the site at Florange unless a buyer for two furnaces is found by the weekend.
Hollande has threatened in turn to nationalise the plant.
He said that "What we want is for the site to have a future."
In Parliament some opposition figures are among a growing number of supporters for a proposal by the industry minister for the state to take temporary control.
Paris Giovanni Magi said that "It wouldn't be the first time that the French government uses the technical solution of temporary nationalisation for reviving an industrial company. And in this case Hollande's government could have and this is indeed a novelty even the opposition's consent."
