«Private individuals are ready to do their part in the relaunch of the former Ilva, but only if certain conditions are met. We need a true operation on accounts, shareholder agreements with Mittal and the status of machinery. And then we need certainty at the financial and industrial level.” The day after, the disagreement over the future of the smelters was discussed between the government and the private partner Arcelormittalcompany president Federacciai and CEO of the company Dufferco Tonino Gozzi goes out into the open space. “The role of the state as a majority shareholder can be temporary – he says – we cannot think of going back to the old days Finsider. But private individuals need clear answers to enter the field.”
Dr. Gozzi, what do you think about the split between State and Mittal?
“That an outcome of this type was widely reported and predictable. I said it in May 2023 at the Federacciai assembly and I have always repeated it in recent months.
Why?
“What can we expect from Mittal if not complete disengagement? In all that time, they deconsolidated Ilva, created a parallel business structure that was not supported by the majority shareholders, a company that needed liquidity, which forced management to jump through hoops to buy raw materials, which led to the start-up and shutdown of blast furnaces. depending on the moments. We have to thank past bad decisions, starting with the election of the Conte government, with shareholder agreements that were never fully clarified, in which a private shareholder was granted the right to govern even if he was put in a minority, with compensation clauses attached, on which in the fact that now Mittal is using leverage by threatening legal action.”
Former Ilva, the state is ready to invest, the private sector is not: Cornigliano is concerned
by Massimo Minello
How important do you think the nationality of the property is?
“The idea that Italian ownership has no value in certain sectors of skilled industrial production, such as the steel industry, represents the imbecility of ideology turbo capitalism. Nonsense that can be seen firsthand when the group restarts the Terni smelter Hello, while Mittal is betting everything on the Asian market.”
But now the situation is getting worse. Are private persons, Arvedi, you of Duferca, Feralpi and others, willing to take the field?
“I am absolutely convinced that Italy cannot give up a strategic asset like Ilva in Taranto. But some conditions are needed. The first is the great truth operation.”
How do you think?
“On bills, on the health of the Taranto plant. Since the Riva group was expropriated twelve years ago without compensation for Ilva, the plants have not been adequately maintained, which affects the quality of production and the safety of workers. And then it cannot be private persons who will take over the amount of debts incurred in the last years of the economy. If the state is a shareholder, even if it is a minority, it will have to take action. Then the industrial and financial plan.”
Union
“The former Ilva goes public again. Production in Cornigliano has reached an all-time low”
by Massimo Minello
How can society recover in this state?
“The goal must be to reach 2028-2029 with a decarbonized plant and a production potential of around five to six million tons of steel per year. In this way a balance is achieved. But we need answers on many points to get there.”
For example?
“From these years it will no longer be possible to have free CO2. If I have to pay them, I will incur additional production costs (around $200 per ton), which will completely crowd out European full-cycle production. The European Union and the states must help private individuals in this. And I don’t accept anyone who would be outraged by such reasoning, because there are large European countries like Germany that do exactly that.”
But must all this dissolve in a very short time?
Do you think this is possible?
“There are no alternatives. In reality, this is a company that no longer pays its suppliers, which is insolvent. Unfortunately, the industry does not wait and needs assurances. Let the lawyers do their job, the government theirs. And at that moment private persons will be there.’