The government’s other record is Ilva. What do the 2,500 redundancies on the day of Meloni’s celebrations tell us?

Twenty-eight companies in the Ilva supply chain have sent redundancy notices to 2,500 employees. They waited until the Mediterranean Games in Taranto had concluded – the sporting event which, in the narrative promoted by the Meloni government, was supposed to coincide with the city’s ‘turning point’. It is no coincidence that the motto chosen for the event was ‘embrace the future’. And that future has arrived today: more painful and hopeless than ever. Because this time, it really is all over for Ilva. The hot zone will close in mid-October by order of the Milan Court of Appeal.

A long-awaited decision that no one was able to prevent. Indeed, it came as a godsend, providing an alibi to justify the failure of the provisional administration and the subsequent tender process, initiated by Minister Urso. It is noteworthy that the layoffs were announced on the very same day that Prime Minister Meloni, just a few kilometres away, was marking the anniversary of the longest-serving government in the history of the Republic. This government will be remembered as the one that shut down the largest steelworks in Italy and Europe. An oxymoron for the nationalists. Even if Urso continues to claim that there are millions of consortia competing to turn Ilva into Europe’s largest green steelworks. Empty talk endorsed by the complicity of the trade unions and the opposition, who, faced with the most serious industrial and employment crisis in Italy’s history, preferred to take their seats at the Taranto Games. ‘Social time bomb’ was the headline in the newspapers before these Games began, but for two weeks they too played along, enthusiastically welcoming the institutional leaders (and no, it wasn’t them who booed Meloni at the opening ceremony in Taranto). Now the Taranto Games are over: embrace the future!