The PD also bears responsibility for the Ilva scandal

On Sunday evening, at the PD’s regional party in Puglia in Martina Franca, in the province of Taranto, in light of the redundancy of 2,500 workers, Elly Schlein officially called on Prime Minister Meloni to remove the Ilva dossier from Urso’s hands, “as he has already amply demonstrated that he is unable to handle it”. In these very pages, together with Luciano Capone and Annarita Di Giorgio, we had already called for this four years ago, right at the start of this government, ever since the minister decided to oust ArcelorMittal. The company went into insolvency because Invitalia (at the minister’s urging) decided not to proceed with the capital increase as provided for in the agreement signed under the Conte government, and at that point the third extraordinary administration was initiated.

Whilst one faction of the government, led by the then Minister Fitto, was still attempting to negotiate with the global giant that had acquired Ilva for 4 billion, Urso was pulling in a different direction. Simply for having reported this, the head of Made in Italy sent us a claim for half a million euros in damages, accusing us of seeking to “prevent the ministry from obtaining government approval” for his industrial plan for Ilva. No one on the left condemned the minister’s action, not even in the name of the much-vaunted freedom of the press. In the end, Urso got his way, and even the opposition sided with him. In particular, the PD and the trade unions. Everyone was delighted to be able to drive ArcelorMittal away, as compared to the (public) administration under the commissioners, it had cut off funding to everyone. This was despite the investments made in environmental remediation, which had led to the dismissal of long-serving managers and contractors. Who, predictably, returned under the commissioners. This was Emiliano’s line, supported by Francesco Boccia, Antonio Misiani and half the PD. Today, Secretary Schlein wants to take Ilva away from Urso. If they had fought to do so in 2023, Ilva would be saved today, along with 20,000 workers and the Italian steel industry.