ArcelorMittal Italia talks with government look optimistic

The Italian government is working on defining the size of the public investment to help ArcelorMittal relaunch former local steelmaker Ilva, Kallanish learns from a statement issued by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

ArcelorMittal has in recent weeks become more inclined to negotiate to keep its Italian investment. Conte says the government intends to implement the agreement signed with the company on 4 March and invest in Ilva through its financial subsidiary Invitalia. “We are now getting to the heart of the negotiation with ArcelorMittal to define the details of the new governance. We have promised to achieve ambitious targets both from an environmental and employment standpoint and we are determined to respect this commitment,” Conte affirms.

In a televised interview last month ArcelorMittal Italia chief executive Lucia Morselli also said the company intends to comply with the agreement signed on 4 March with the Italian government. Morselli added that the government becoming a shareholder in the steelmaker would support the plant’s relaunch (see Kallanish passim).

Meanwhile, after an agreement was signed in Trieste for the dismantling of the hot area of Arvedi’s pig iron plant, Taranto mayor Rinaldo Meucci told local press that Ilva should also indefinitely mothball its hot end. The regional authorities in Trieste are going to invest and transform the former plant into a logistics hub that will boost activity at the port of Trieste.

Meucci, together with the Taranto commerce chamber, have lamented a lack of communication between the central government, ArcelorMittal and local authorities. They are asking for a more sustainable development for the future of Taranto.