The Italian environment
minister, speaking from a summit in Brussels Friday, said he did
not expect the European Commission to balk at Italian measures
passed this week to save the insolvent and pollution-plagued
ILVA steel plant in southern Italy.
A decree rescuing the ILVA plant at Taranto in Puglia was
converted into law by the House Tuesday with 284 ayes, 126 nays
and 50 abstentions.
"I expect there won't be any findings on the part of the
European Commission. We have done everything in line with
European rules so that ILVA can return to being a leading
company in the (steel) sector, with a very high environmental
standard," said Gian Luca Galletti on the sidelines of a meeting
of EU environmental ministers taking place in Brussels.
"We maintain that (the measures) can not be construed as
state aid," Galletti added.
Gallati reiterated the will to respect guidelines
communicated in the past by the European Commission.
"We have made a highly detailed environmental plan. The
document presented in Brussels calls for all the requirements to
be carried out by August 2016".
"The ILVA decree says that 80% of the requirements must be
done by August 2015, while the other 20% must respect the date
established of August 2016".
Last month the cash-strapped steel manufacturer got 400
million euros in State-backed loans from the national
government's Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP).
The cabinet also approved a 260-million euro bridge loan.
Extraordinary commissioners are now managing ILVA as the
troubled plant goes through a massive environmental cleanup and
financial turnaround project.
ILVA also recently agreed with unions to make 4,074 instead
of 4,459 workers redundant as of March 2.
Those workers will remain on the books another 12 months
under so-called solidarity contracts, or subsidised short-time
working schemes, FIM CISL union said.
Under solidarity contracts, workers agree to change their
hours or pay conditions to prevent redundancies.
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