It could be "useful" for saving
jobs and boosting the economy if Premier Matteo Renzi follows
through on his suggestion the government could buy troubled
steelmaker ILVA, labour leader Susanna Camusso said Monday.
She spoke one day after Renzi said that his government is
considering whether to buy the scandal-plague steelmaker, which
has threatened to shed jobs and even close over the massive
costs of an environmental cleanup at its plant in the southern
port city of Taranto.
In an interview on Sunday with La Repubblica, Renzi said
that if the government did take on ILVA, it would hold Europe's
largest steel producer for only "two or three years, defend
employment, protect the environment, and then relaunch it on the
market".
Camusso, who heads the CGIL trade union federation, Italy's
largest, said her organization has "always advocated that, in
strategic sectors of the economy, if there are not private
entrepreneurs willing to intervene," then the government should
step in.
Renzi said in the interview that he did not see the
government becoming a permanent player in the steel sector, but
only act on a temporary basis at ILVA, which has employed 16,000
people.
ILVA was placed under special administration by the Italian
government in 2013 and in October, the European Commission gave
Italy two months to deal with the longstanding health and
environment problems at the ILVA steel plant.
If it fails, it risks seeing the case referred to the
European Court of Justice, the EC warned.
The European Union has been pressing Italy to ensure the
ILVA plant complies with laws on industrial emissions and health
standards, and said in October it had some "serious
shortcomings"
Other problems around management of waste, protection of
soil, and groundwater are outstanding, the EU said.
The plant still emits too much industrial dust "with
potentially serious consequences for the health of the local
population and the environment".
Brussels had already sent Italy two previous letters urging
action on ILVA.
The ILVA plant has been at the center of controversy for
years over serious health concerns, culminating in a Save ILVA
plan by the former Monti government at the end of 2012 that set
out measures to help the plant survive and preserve jobs during
environmental clean-up.
In July, prosecutors in Taranto said they were
investigating concerns that carpenters working at the plant have
suffered incidents of thyroid cancer.
On the same day a Taranto court found 23 former ILVA
managers guilty in connection with a wave of asbestos and other
carcinogen-linked deaths in the port city.
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