The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development, Luigi Di Maio, continues to keep Ilva in Taranto, the largest steel plant in Europe, in swing, whose future hangs in the balance.
The minister, who does not hide his hostility to the agreement with the Indians of Arcelor-Mittal, announced yesterday that the State Attorney's Office had identified several "critical issues" in the tender called by his predecessor Carlo Calenda at the time and which ended with the award of the Italian plant to Arcelor-Mittal. Di Maio, he then increased the dose during a press conference in which he even went so far as to speak of a "perfect crime":
“A perfect crime was committed on Ilva. From the lawyer's opinion you will understand that there is very little to regulate in this tender”, said the deputy prime minister.
"In our opinion there was an excess of power and the deed is illegitimate", he continued, specifying however that "for the annulment there must be illegitimacy of the deed" and another point must be "the protection of the public interest" .
Di Maio did not say the most important thing and that is whether the Avvocatura recommended canceling the tender or not. From what is understood, the Attorney's office would not have ruled for the annulment. However, the minister has opened up to a possible cancellation in the event that another bidder arrives. "If today, after 2 years and 8 months, there were companies that wanted to participate in the tender, we could revoke this procedure for reasons of expediency". "Today - the Mise number one clarified - we don't have companies that want to participate, but if there were even just one company there would be reason to revoke the tender".
The reply of his predecessor, Carlo Calenda, was immediate: “If the match is flawed, cancel it. “We could if there was someone interested” and the other nonsense of the kind that you have been feeding us for months, only demonstrate confusion and amateurism”, the former minister wrote on Twitter.
Caro @luigidimaio the "(im)perfect crime" is yours towards our intelligence. If the race is flawed cancel it. “We could if there was anyone interested” and the other nonsense of the kind that you've been feeding us for months, only show confusion and amateurism.
- Carlo Calenda (@CarloCalenda) August 23th, 2018
Despite the pressure from the metalworkers' unions and above all from Marco Bentivogli's Fim-Cisl who fear the closure of Ilva, Di Maio continues to stall and not make a clear and definitive decision on the future of Italian steel, endangering the beauty of 20 jobs, partly directly occupied by Ilva and partly in related industries. Ilva is losing 30 million a month and will run out of cash in the autumn: either it will proceed rapidly with its relaunch (with associated environmental remediation) or it risks closing forever.
“We are two weeks away from the expiry of the extension of the commissioners given by Minister Di Maio. Until now there has been only confusion”, Bentivogli affirmed “the minister has at the same time agreed with those who want to close Ilva and with those who want to relaunch it in an environmentally friendly way. We have no prejudice on the work of the minister and his department, we only ask for a decision because the negotiations have been interrupted since May. We've waited too many months to pass the buck, the workers won't wait much longer. Enough campaigning. If there are serious critical issues, cancel the tender otherwise it's smoke and confusion useful only for the next elections. The factory is without maintenance and very dangerous”. "The truth, however - added Bentivogli - is that Di Maio plays the game of three cards on the skin of citizens and workers" of Ilva.
Di Maio wanted to send a message to the unions: “We will be at the table with the social partners. An agreement that brings work to Taranto represents the current and concrete public interest to be protected which would avoid revocation of the tender".
On the table remains the crux of employment which divides Arcelor-Mittal from the unions but without a clear pronouncement from the Government on the fate of the plant and the provision of funds to support the redundancies, as former minister Calenda had foreseen, it is difficult find an agreement that unlocks the entire dispute. If Di Maio were to pull too far and cause the bankruptcy of Ilva, it would be the largest industrial Caporetto in recent decades. This is what the unions will still remind him today, in an attempt to dislodge him from the stronghold of his dangerous immobility.
(Last update at 13.48)
