The Milan Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the decision to suspend blast furnaces at the former Ilva metallurgical plant in Taranto. The decision was a heavy blow for the management company Acciaierie d'Italia (ADI).
In the reasoning part, the judges noted that when comparing interests, priority should be given to protecting health, for the sake of which the decision was made to stop working in the hot shop. The Court referred to recent rulings by the Italian Constitutional Court and to article 41 of the Constitution, recalling that private economic activity cannot be conducted to the detriment of human health and the environment.
Thus, ADI's claim against the decision of the same court dated July 27 was rejected, according to which the company had to stop all operations related to hot production within 90 days. It will be possible to resume work only after the complete removal of asbestos from the territory of the enterprise and the adoption of measures that will reduce dust emissions to the standards established by law. The judges pointed out that asbestos is associated with mesothelioma, and in Taranto and neighboring Atlanta, this disease is diagnosed about four times more often than expected in the country.
The company employs about 8,000 full-time employees, as well as numerous contractors. The city has fewer than 200,000 inhabitants.
Following the court's decision, the steelworkers' unions Fim, Fiom and Uilm called on the authorities to immediately convene a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. They demanded that layoffs be stopped and warned of a possible social explosion if the plant's future was reduced to staff cuts and government-funded downtime.
In response, George Meloni announced the immediate resumption of the permanent interagency group on the steel complex. According to the prime minister, Rome is looking for solutions beyond the direct control of the government, and Taranto remains one of the key dossiers to which the cabinet pays special attention.
ADI warned that the shutdown of production could jeopardize the further operation of the enterprise, as the cooling procedure for blast furnaces can make their restart impossible without extensive and expensive repairs. If the production of hot-rolled products in Taranto is permanently discontinued, Acciaieria Arvedi will remain the only manufacturer of hot-rolled rolls (HRC) in the Italian domestic market. Other Italian companies produce rolls, but they work as rolling machines, using slabs supplied from outside rather than their own smelting.
There is currently a lull in the domestic market of Italian rolled products. Weak demand in the secondary market limits the volume of contracts, and there are almost no reports of new deals.
At the same time, the shortage of supply remains noticeable. Ferriera Valsider Factory,