Enough talk. Now, let's get our wallets in. If any advice can be given to... Minister Urso is to not postpone a long time decision on the fate of the Ilva steelworks in Taranto and related production sites. Woe betide if new dossiers, folders of stamped papers, various requests and requests of all kinds were to be deposited on his desk. Once the technical times of the ongoing procedures have elapsed, one must know how to choose and have the courage to decideAnything else would only serve to fuel the wave of protests and demands that have been stifling Europe's largest steel plant for too many years. A strategic facility for a manufacturing and mechanical engineering economy like Italy's.
Former Ilva steelworks: no more delays: offers for the future of the steelworks are on the table.
Le proposals they are now in the records: that of consolidated Jindal. Indefinite but valid that one Blazer. That is in progress mint. It also seems to be in gestation that of the consortium of Italian steelworkersWaiting any longer would be a waste of time: which would mean throwing a few billion in public funds into the Taranto furnace. We need to limit the timeframe. We need to formalize all offers. We need to prepare the tools for their technical and financial evaluation, taking into account general interests, and then... decide, decide, decide.
A statement from the President of the Italian mechanical engineering industry has arrived Simone Bettini which doesn't get you very far: "Taranto is strategic; production must be saved; public funds must be injected into management and investments; and de facto management must be entrusted to the state." This is a difficult path to take on the difficult path to reopening and revitalizing the Taranto plant.
The Italian consortium and the hypothesis of splitting up the plants
From the Italian consortium, nothing official is yet available beyond the declarations of intent made in August. Indeed, skepticism about the operation itself is growing. It's enough to hang out with the so-called "Bresciani" to grasp the true meaning of the August intentions. Only on the part of the Marcegaglia group There are some signs: "We could supply slabs for the first few years and guarantee the transformation into coils on a contract basis. In the future, we could exploit part of the steel we will produce in our plant in Fos-sur-Mer. Cornigliano e Turin they could be attractive for their production of strips, galvanized and tinned strip, so necessary and vital for the mechanical and food industries".
The President Goiters who leads the group does not deny the use of the stew after the possible acquisition of the Taranto cold-processing plant. In the meantime (at least four years), they could enter the international slab market and evaluate the installation of two giant electric furnaces to replace the blast furnaces "sentenced to death by the judiciary." The Italian consortium's concerns about this prospect become clear opposition, given the prospect of a new consumer of scrap amounting to at least four million tons. A suicide for their Italian plants.
This, in simple terms, is President Gozzi's prudence and the request for further time to reflect and study production facilities and forecasts that private individuals know by heart.
Urso must set times and criteria
In this period of time the minister imposes the times of irrevocable offers. It places the awarding body in a position of broad and tangible technical, scientific, and financial representation, along with territorial representation.
Beware of leaving the Municipality, Province, and Region out of the decision. Even the local authorities that have played a key role in the good and bad of Taranto must assume their share of responsibility for the choice. As for the sindacati After what they've done in Taranto for so many years, it's good to just listen to them.
Offers will be evaluated on the basis of certain commitments. Any public interventions They will be independent of any type of management presence. They will be primarily focused on recovery and investment. Private individuals, Italian or otherwise, will bear the burden and the burden. Above all, they will have to pay the price.
