On the Ilva issue, Mantovano has brought the trade unions together, but more is needed to secure a future for the steel industry.

Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano has achieved the impossible: keeping the metalworkers’ unions at bay whilst the government closes Italy’s largest factory. On Tuesday, following yet another Ilva meeting in the Sala Verde at Palazzo Chigi, the unions signed a joint statement with the ministers, which was presented by the union representatives as a major achievement. “An important commitment has been reached thanks to the mobilisation of the workers,” said Uilm General Secretary Davide Sperti as he left Palazzo Chigi “A document has been signed with the government which, in addition to the decree-law, provides for a willingness to discuss compensation measures – as we have long been calling for – covering both arduous work for those who have been exposed to the full production cycle for at least ten years, early retirement schemes and incentives for voluntary redundancy.”

Ilva – that is, the Italian integrated steel cycle – is beyond hope, and everyone – the government, trade unions and the opposition – is now talking about other matters: social safety nets and the attempt at reindustrialisation. The new decree provides for tax relief for new investments in a 100-hectare area within the Ilva site. Where, then, are the electric furnaces and DRI plants mentioned in point 1 of the minutes supposed to be built? The only one who spoke frankly was Mantovano: “I cannot give you a timetable, because I do not know how the sale will turn out.” Urso has been postponing it for two years whilst looking for a buyer. The latest candidate is an Italian consortium, interested only in the cold area.

It is understandable: anyone who has come near the blast furnaces has come to harm. Most recently, President Bernabè, who was appointed by the then Prime Minister Draghi to a position at Invitalia, now finds himself having to answer in court for having represented the state in the defence of the Italian steel industry. Even an intervention by von der Leyen, secured thanks to a request from Draghi, is being treated by the investigators as fraud against the European Union. It is understandable that even the last of the Japanese have given up.