After two years and sixty million euros taken from their own pockets, the Algerian Rebrab and Cevital surrender. Thus ends, for the fourth time, the sad story of Piombino and the iron and steel plant that was to "rule" in long products and rails. First the State, then the Lucchinis, finally the Russian colossus of Severstal and today the Algerians. Certainly the years of crisis did not help the recovery and neither did the rigidity of the Algiers government which kept the tap of Rebrab's capital closed.
However, these are less decisive obstacles compared to the strategic uncertainties, the plant hesitations of the owners and the political-local expectations for a renaissance of steel from blast furnaces and integral cycles. For months, the impasse that has gripped the last property has worried the Minister and all of Tuscany. The credit line given to the Algiers businessman at the time had by now completely crumbled and Commissioner Piero Nardi's call to the bedside of the sick man in a coma was the clearest sign of it.
Today the man who has known all the seasons of the Piombino plant as a protagonist has warned the Government that the defaults by Cevital are such and so many as to justify the cancellation of the contract and look for new entrepreneurs and new solutions. Piero Nardi, let's remember, was a senior manager of ILVA; then protagonist with Giovanni Gambardella of the transfer of Piombino to the Lucchinis; later administrator of the Brescia group until the "cleansing" of its top management by Enrico Bondi sent to Brescia to save the credits of the Banks and, if possible, also the personal assets of the Lucchinis.
A brief parenthesis and Piero Nardi returns to the deck of the ship from Piombino: a dry ship, full of patches, with engines out of order and crews lacking in motivation, often inert and rendered amorphous by years and years of layoffs and social safety nets . Today the fate of 2000 families and that of a still competitive plant (wire rod line and rails) are once again at the center of the country's iron and steel events. There is talk of some Brescians ready for the company stew and confidential meetings with Jindal, the Indian ally of Arvedi defeated in the Taranto match by his compatriot Mittal.
Contacting Jindal means wanting to re-propose the continuous cycle of the blast furnace: an expensive and demanding solution that has bound political and trade union expectations for decades like a mantra. Today, once that wait has been weakened, the prospect of an electric oven cycle could open up, replacing the large plant that was supposed to maintain the perennial pride of the Piombinos. The downsizing will certainly question the employment levels, the hectares occupied almost on the borders of Follonica and the numerous port concessions.
But, realistically, the doors could be opened to people from Brescia and to diversify opportunities for the local economy. We'll see how Piero Nardi fares in his "fifth" round in Piombino.
