ArcelorMittal Cries Foul As Italy Passes Growth Decree
Reuters reported that Italy has approved a decree to boost growth and spur investment. The decree contains a raft of measures intended to bolster Italy’s economy, which has stagnated since the coalition of the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement and the far right League took office a year ago. The so-called growth decree was approved in the upper house Senate by 158 votes to 104. It had already been passed by the lower house Chamber of Deputies. Alongside tax breaks for investments and lower insurance costs for firms, the government added several contested measures that have little to do with the original scope of the decree. Among these, it scrapped the legal immunity that previous governments granted to ArcelorMittal
ArcelorMittal has threatened to shut down the plant unless the immunity clause, intended to shield the company’s managers from prosecution if they fail to carry out a promised environmental clean up is restored. ArcelorMittal’s European head, Mr Geert Van Poelvoorde, said “The government continues to tell us not to worry, that it will find a solution, but so far there is nothing. So on September 6th the plant will close. We still have two months, I hope the government will find a solution, we are open to discuss.”
The norm granting immunity to ArcelorMittal has been contested by a magistrate in Taranto, and is currently awaiting a final ruling by the Constitutional Court.
At its peak, the high-polluting Ilva plant produced more than 10 million tonnes of steel a year, but magistrates ruled in 2012 that it had to be cleaned up or shut down. Ilva was placed under state-supervised special administration in 2015. ArcelorMittal had agreed in 2017 to buy Ilva.
Source : Reuters