Not even the time to swear, that the Draghi government must immediately deal with one of the most serious problems of Italian industry: the fate of theex Ilva of Taranto. Saturday February 13, the Lecce TAR ordered the shutdown of the hot area within 60 days of the steel plant. The company has already said it plans to appeal the ruling.
According to Giuseppe Romano, of the Fiom-Cgil union, the provision imposed by the administrative judge "means closing Ilva", putting the future of Ilva at risk. 13mila people among active employees, those on layoffs and associated workers.
On the other hand, the Tar ruling contains several alarming health data: for example in the Taranto area, among the inhabitants aged between 20 and 29 years, there is an "an excess of 70% of the incidence of thyroid cancer", while "those born to mothers resident in the period 2002 -2015 were 25.853; in the same period, 600 cases of congenital malformation were observed, with a higher than expected prevalence calculated on a regional basis”.
To date, the former Ilva is under seizure, having a faculty of use dictated by the schedule of environmental interventions that had been programmed. The problem is that that program – as the Administrative Court points out – it actually skipped. And soon the prosecutors will speak with the custodian, Barbara Valenzano, to understand what the next steps should be. In theory, the prosecutors could also revoke the right to use the system, further shortening the times for shutting down the hot area compared to what is indicated by the Tar.
And the government? The yellow and red executive had established the entrance of Invitalia in the capital of the former Ilva next to Arcelor Mittal. But the decree of the Ministry of Economy which allocated i 400 million necessary for the operation was never issued: the former minister Gualtieri had received the green light from the Accounting Department, but in order to sign he was waiting for the opinion of the Avvocatura, which should have established whether the matter could fall within the perimeter of current affairs.
At this point, it remains to understand how the new ministers will want to move of Economy and Economic Development, Daniele Franco and Giancarlo Giorgetti. The latter made contact with the mayor of Taranto, Rinaldo Melucci, who explains: “The road is very narrow: there are no alternatives to shutting down the area hot. On this the Tar was very clear. Either we change course immediately or Ilva cannot continue to work”. And the only possible change seems to be that of transition of the hot area to an electric furnace. Now, however, there is no more time.
