(Ticker) – “The shareholders are in contact with each other and will have to arrive at the meeting with a solution to the financial problems of Acciaierie d’Italia”. The president said, Franco Bernabe, in view of the meeting of 2 December of the former Ilva. “The plan for decarbonisation, for the energy transition is ready – he explained during the Sustainable Future Forum -, the projects are lacking funding, and it is up to the shareholders to decide what they want to do in terms of financing a transition process which is very expensive and involves nIn the space of 10 years, an investment of around 5 and a half billion”.
Energy prices have had a gigantic impact on Ilva. We had a bill of around 200 million euros in one year normal, like 2019 and 2020, we have moved on to a total cost of 1.4 billion, unsustainable for any company”, he added. “The tools that the government has adopted, the tax exemption, tax credits have certainly been very useful – he explained -, but he still forced us to reorganize the production structure in such a way as to minimize consumption. This also happened in the downstream industry which stopped production due to costs”.
“Rebalancing governance. This is what is urgently needed in this historic moment at the former Ilva, the largest steel plant in Europe. On the eve of the shareholders’ meeting, initially scheduled for last November 25 and then postponed until tomorrow December 2, it is necessary to put a hand on the structure of the association of Acciaierie D’Italia, born through a partnership between private and public. For the Fim Cisl, who speaks with the general secretary Roberto Benaglia and the national secretary, Valerio D’Alò “it remains essential that the State accelerates the process of entry as majority shareholder. There is a need to rebalance governance. The State, over the years, has put in a lot of money, it will put in another 2 billion. As a union we want these resources to be spent effectively to recover the decline recorded by the Group. And the production data prove it. Today Acciaierie d’Italia, in this way, is not in a position to be able to run a plant and a production like the one that Italy deserves”.
“With the rebalancing of governance, where whoever puts in the money can manage the game personally, it would bring benefits to the entire system, now compromised, of industrial relations and would also give an answer of a truly strategic interest of the Acciaierie D’Italia Group. An important solution also for the weak link of procurement and related industries, too often conditioned by the uncertainties caused by a lack of virtuous management.Without neglecting, restoring their centrality, the workers of Ilva in Extraordinary Administration, the latter in the field at the Sato and owner of the plants in which Acciaierie D’Italia operates. The time has come for clarity. The workers are asking for it, together with a city and a territory increasingly tormented by an unprecedented employment crisis”.