With an offer of around two billion euros Arcelor-Mittal (in alliance with the Marcegaglia Group and with Intesa Sanpaolo) has been awarded the Ilva steel which has its main asset in Taranto. In recent days, the statement from the European Commission which underlined its renewed attention towards dominant positions in the industrial sectors seemed to be a new obstacle to the solution and an indirect message for the largest European producer and a global giant alongside the Chinese alone. It is clear that the group led by Mittal has fully evaluated the consequences of the Italian acquisition on the production levels of its numerous plants scattered throughout Europe with capacities capable of determining an absolute predominance from coils to slabs, from special steels to long products , from forgings to trading. This means a strategic position as a key supplier in the automotive, mechanical engineering, infrastructure, energy and construction industries.
Where will it cut the almost 5 million tonnes which, added to the capacity of Taranto, risk causing the Group to leave the threshold beyond which the heavy Community sanctions would be triggered? Arcelor-Mittal is present in almost all European countries from France to Poland, from Italy to Germany, from Spain to Belgium and in the east of the continent. Where and when will he make the inevitable cuts? At a time when European (especially Italian) steel companies have pushed the Commission to open a dossier on Chinese steel imports, it is difficult to think that the European Authority can turn a blind eye to the expansion of Mittal's production capacities by eight ten million tons.
The tender for the Ilva plants in Taranto, the billionaire amount of the economic offer, the attention also brought by the Jindal-Arvedi and Del Vecchio consortium, do justice to those who believed and worked for the survival of the Apulian plant and for its relaunch. The work of the Commissioners was excellent and credit must be given to the foresight and tenacity of the Government in countering the illusory prospects indicated by the detractors of the Taranto site combined with the legal rigidities of the Public Prosecutors who, more than once, represented the almost insurmountable obstacle a positive conclusion to the delicate affair. With the maxi-compensation paid by the heirs of Emilio Riva, the toughest industrial crisis of recent years is definitively closed. In steel, the problem of Piombino remains open, which, in terms of size and complexity, is small compared to the case of Taranto.
"It is singular - writes the secretary general of Fim Cisl Marco Bentivogli in a note - to receive the long-awaited convocation of the meeting for the comparison relating to the two industrial plans contained in the offers for the two consortiums for the acquisition of Ilva and at the same time to read that the adjudication to one of the two consortiums has actually already taken place. We hope that Minister Carlo Calenda will deny these rumors as soon as possible, above all to make the meeting scheduled for Tuesday credible. It is one thing to have an orientation, it would be quite another to have already decided. We remind you that, for us, alongside the value of the offer and a greater or lesser role of the deposit and loan fund, the technological investment capacity for environmental sustainability and the competitive relaunch for the purpose of safeguarding employment remain priorities”.
