Sparks flew between the Italian
government and local and regional authorities in Puglia on
Wednesday after the latter challenged a decree modifying the
environmental cleanup plan for the troubled ILVA steel plant in
Taranto.
Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti expressed his
surprise at the move, saying the new industrial plan for
Europe's largest steelworks is strong and that the environmental
plan is the best that has ever been seen.
Economic Development Minister Carlo Calenda accused the local
and regional authorities of schizophrenic management and said
the deal on ILVA involving sale to a consortium led by
ArcelorMittal and the associated environmental clean-up risked
falling apart.
"Enough of stealing our children's future, blackmail doesn't
frighten us," replied Taranto mayor Rinaldo Melucci in reference
to the ongoing health risk posed by the plant.
Meanwhile Calenda has frozen negotiations pending the
decision by the Legge regional administrative court.
If the appeal against the decree is upheld production at the
plant must stop.
Metalworkers' union FIOM also expressed criticism of the move
by the centre-left Puglia regional government led by Michele
Emiliano.
"CGIL (the trades union confederation of which FIOM is a
part) considers Emiliano's decision a mistake. This is not the
time for courthouses, there are negotiations underway, it is the
time for responsibility," former FIOM general secretary Maurizio
Landini said.
The Taranto plant is undergoing a painful restructuring to
revamp it and clean it up after years in which it was linked to
high local cancer rates.
The decree at the centre of the controversy was approved by
the government at the end of September.
Puglia Governor Michele Emiliano said later Wednesday "I fear
that this affair of the adjudication of ILVA to Arcelor-Mittal
is all wrong."
He said "they have caused a concentration much higher than
the maximum amount" allowed "and now they're trying to find a
scapegoat to blame for their failure".
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