Cabinet Undersecretary Graziano
Delrio said Friday that a bridge loan to troubled steelmaker
ILVA will provide "great liquidity" and allow it to "immediately
pay its suppliers".
A bridging loan reportedly worth 260 million euros is to be
included in a decree and will be available "in the coming
weeks".
Delrio added the arrangement "is very positive".
Taranto Mayor Ippazio Stefàno announced the value of the
bridging loan after talks with the government.
Premier Matteo Renzi has said the government could take
over the plant in the southern Italian port city of Taranto to
ensure operations, and hang on to it for a couple of years until
a suitable buyer is found.
The cash-strapped steel plant, one of Europe's largest, has
posed a long-standing dilemma between job needs in Italy's poor
southern region of Puglia and rampant pollution.
It has been linked to high cancer rates in Taranto.
ILVA's parent group was recently declared bankrupt
with debts of almost three billion euros, and has been at the
centre of a row pitting environmental concerns against unions
and workers fighting for their jobs.
The Puglia plant is the city's biggest employer as well as
contributing to thousands of jobs related to supplying ILVA.
Successive governments have tried to push the company to
clean up the plant while at the same time keep it open and
employing workers.
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