Renzi says 'close to a solution' on AST

(ANSA) - Rome, November 21 - Premier Matteo Renzi said Friday that the government is "very close to a solution" for the troubled AST steel plant in the Umbrian city of Terni that is threatened with closure.
    Workers there have been on strike for weeks hoping to convince the German-owned company to change its plan to cut up to 550 jobs there.
    Renzi said that if "responsibility prevails", an agreement on saving the plant can be achieved.
    Industry Minister Federica Guidi also urged a sense of responsibility in working to close an agreement that she said would "maintain the integrity of the (plant) and give stability to the workers".
    AST CEO Lucia Morselli said Thursday that the company's steel plant won't be dismantled.
    Original plans by AST's parent company ThyssenKrupp to cut 550 jobs at the plant led to a series of strikes and protests in recent months, some of which turned violent.
    "The intention is to maintain the Terni production site in its entirety, excluding any hypothesis of dismantling the facilities," read a message to staff signed by Morselli and attached to the Terni plant's gates.