Premier Matteo Renzi said Friday
that public health is the government's priority in the southern
city of Taranto, where an ILVA steel plant is undergoing a
massive environmental cleanup.
"Officials have neglected their duty for years and we're
working overtime to make up for that, but the effort must be a
collective one," he said at the inauguration of the Taranto
National Archeological Museum (MarTa) as leftwing grassroots
unions and some ILVA workers demostrated outside.
"I'll take the insults, I'm not scared - what I care about
is for Taranto to have both the sacrosanct right to health and
the sacrosanct right to employment," Renzi said.
The Senate last Wednesday gave final approval to the
government's ILVA decree with 168 votes in favour, 102 against
and two abstaining.
The package, which the government had put to a confidence
vote previously, contains various measures regarding the sale of
an ILVA steel plant in Taranto.
The steelmaker's giant Taranto works is going through an
expensive environmental clean-up and revamp to lower cancer
risks and save jobs in the southern Italian city.
Renzi has been met with protesting ILVA workers during past
visits to Taranto.
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