Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
ROME / TARANTO – The dramatic and endless dispute over the former ILVA steelworks in Taranto is back at the heart of political conflict. In a vitriolic post on his social media channels, Carlo Calenda, leader of Azione and former Minister for Economic Development, launched a fierce attack on the political, judicial and local handling of the Puglia steel plant’s affairs in recent years.
The politician pointed the finger at a range of institutional and local actors, whom he holds responsible for the plant’s production paralysis.
Calenda’s remarks: “They sank the South’s largest plant”
In his intervention, Calenda summed up in a few scathing lines what he sees as the failure of Italian industrial and institutional policy on the Taranto dossier:
“The judiciary, the Conte 2 government, Emiliano, Urso, various mayors and associations have all done their utmost to close Europe’s largest steelworks and the biggest industrial investment in the Mezzogiorno.”
— Carlo Calenda, Leader of Azione
Targets of the Azione leader: from the judiciary to governments
Calenda’s stance directly hits the key stages that have marked the complex saga of the former ILVA:
- The role of the judiciary and mayors: Repeated judicial seizures and appeals brought by municipal administrations and environmental associations.
- Governments (Conte II and MIMIT): Strategic choices made by the executive led by Giuseppe Conte with Invitalia’s involvement, through to the current management by the Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso.
- The Puglia region: The political line taken by Governor Michele Emiliano, long critical of the decarbonisation methods and the plant’s health impact.
A head-on attack that turns the spotlight back on the future of steel in Italy and the fate of thousands of workers and the supply chain in the Taranto area.
