The agreement between the government and ArcelorMittal on the former Ilva of Taranto has been signed, but the controversy does not stop. Indeed, they become even more furious, because the agreement allows the Indo-French group to abandon the Apulian plant by 2020 by paying only 500 million (compared to a purchase price initially set at 1,8 billion, to which the investments were added ) and leaving most of the bill to Italian taxpayers. But let's go in order and see in detail what the agreement provides.
ILVA: THE LATEST ARCELORMITTAL-GOVERNMENT AGREEMENT
1) The pillars of the agreement
The main points are two:
- modification of the Ilva lease and acquisition contract (with the entry of public and private investors through a capital increase);
- the cancellation of civil lawsuit initiated in Milan by the government against ArcelorMittal (which had terminated the contract after being deprived of the penal shield).
2) The exit clause
The new lease agreement provides that AM InvestCo (the consortium led by ArcelorMittal) can exercise the withdrawal by 31 December 2020 if the new investment agreement has not been signed by 30 November. As an exit penalty, AM InvestCo will have to pay the State 500 million: it seems a high figure, but in reality, as he points out Gianfilippo Cuneo on the Sole24Ore, represents only 20% of ArcelorMittal's 2019 free cash flow, which will probably make up for it with the rise in the stock market.
3) Employment
In case of permanence, ArcelorMittal ensures that at the end of the 2020-2025 industrial plan it will employ a total of 10.700 employees.
Still on the employment front, the State will grant layoffs and ArcelorMittal has set May 31 as the deadline for reaching an agreement with the unions on how to use the Cigs to "achieve full production capacity".
The parties then undertake to favor the relocation of the employees remaining in the extraordinary administration.
4) The role of the state
The agreement provides for a "significant investment" by the State, equal to "at least the amount still owed by Am InvestCo - reads a note from the consortium - compared to the original purchase price", ie 1,8 billion.
5) The industrial project
Always assuming that ArcelorMittal does not pack up by the end of the year, the 2020-2025 industrial plan provides for a 30% reduction in the use of coal, the overhaul of the plants, the adoption of environmentally friendly production technologies (such as the ) and in perspective the use of hydrogen. There is also a commitment to complete the activities related to the creation of The Hague (the Integrated Environmental Authorization) and the rebuilding of blast furnace 5, the largest in Europe. It is probably a dream book, but - at the moment - both the state and ArcelorMittal have an interest in pretending to believe in it.
BENTIVOGLI: "TAXPAYERS PAY AND THERE IS NO STRATEGY"
The unions welcomed the agreement in a very critical way, as demonstrated the joint note by CGIL, CISL and UIL released on Wednesday.
To this reaction was added that of Marco Bentivogli, number one of the Fim Cisl category acronym, who spoke on Thursday to the microphones of Radio Me too on Rai Radio1:
«Our agreement of 6 September 2018 not only guaranteed 10.700 workers, but also all related industries, environmental requalification and the industrial plan. Under that agreement, ArcelorMittal would have paid 1,8 billion as the purchase price, while today it no longer has this obligation: if it goes well, it will pay 500 million. And it is passed off as a left-wing thing to make Italian taxpayers pay what the private individual will not pay. I am not against a temporary public intervention, but a strategy is needed, instead we will arrive in November in total darkness. In May, then, we will be asked to make a union agreement with reduced employment and a recourse to layoffs which was not foreseen in our agreement. All with a rearrangement of the plant that has no industrial justification. Taranto has quality steel produced with the integral cycle: the technology exists to redevelop the integral cycle and make it sustainable from an environmental point of view, but the agreement provides for the introduction of electric furnaces. A choice that makes no sense from a production point of view, because that type of steel is already produced in Northern Italy».
And again, regarding the possibility of ArcelorMittal choosing to leave by the end of 2020:
«Ilva has a history of over 50 years, of which only 17 under the control of private individuals. ArcelorMittal has been in office since 2019 January XNUMX and since then there has been an attempt to blame all the problems on the newcomers: it is quite clear that they cannot wait to leave. The Ilva affair is a large sign that tells international investors: if you have money, don't come to Italy, because it is an unreliable country".
CALENDA: "MADNESS TO GIVE MONEY TO ARCELORMITTAL"
Carlo Calenda, Minister of Economic Development at the time of the previous agreement with ArcelorMittal also spoke on Radio Anch'io:
«We are facing an Italian madness. We blow up a binding contract, which ArcelorMittal was respecting, and then chase after the group and make a worse deal for us. If the government believed that the revocation of the penal shield did not entail the right to withdraw from the contract, it had to go to court to prove it, not give ArcelorMittal an avalanche of money, entering the company and making half the investments, with a half nationalization that it may soon become complete.'
At that point, to pay for the investments, the excess staff and finally the losses of the former Ilva would only be the taxpayers.
