EU opens probe into ILVA for State aid

(ANSA) - Brussels, January 20 - The European Commission on Wednesday opened an in-depth probe to establish whether financial support given by the Italian State to troubled steelmaker ILVA complies with norms banning State aid to industry. The Commission said it would "assess in particular whether the eased access to financing awarded to ILVA to modernise its works at Taranto has given it an advantage over competitors." It said that "given the urgency of decontaminating the site, the Commission also foresees guarantees that will allow Italy to immediately carry out the environmental clean-up". ILVA's highly polluting plant in the Puglia port city, linked to high cancer rates in the area, has been the subject of several government moves to save jobs while cleaning up the site.