Giuseppe Sabella: "Conte responds to the fear of Mittal"
2019-11-25T16:11:16.720Z
"Ready for public involvement," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said, speaking about the Mittal case, adding that "the importance of the steel industry for the Italian economy is strategic". Is the Government therefore close to an agreement with ArcelorMittal? We talked about it with Giuseppe Sabella, director of Think-industry 4.0 that follows the Ilva story from the beginning. Sabella, why does the Premier Count say that the Government is ready for public involvement? Isn't it the proposal that has already been presented to ArcelorMittal? No, if anything, it is the request that ArcelorMittal made to the Government. And with important timing, Conte verified the political conditions and the possibility of the operation. But hasn't it always been said that Mittal didn't want the involvement of the public? Many things have changed, starting with the mood of the Mittal family about their stay in our country. What happened recently scared them. Explain better ... On the one hand there is a difficult situation due to the difficulty of the steel market. With 8 million tons planned for 2019, only 4.5 will be produced. The company loses 2 million euros a day and will close the 2019 financial year with a loss of about 700 million. It is when they declared to the Court of Milan and that it also results from union sources. On the other hand, the instability of Italian politics and the story of the penal shield frightened the company. On October 15th, due to these fears, the appointment of Lucia Morselli, an Italian expert manager, matured. And when on October 23 the criminal shield is removed from the decree save companies, the company gives an ultimatum to the government: either in 15 days we give back a shield or we withdraw from the contract. And so it was: after having communicated it to the workers and their trade unions, they presented their withdrawal. How, then, did the Government manage to reopen negotiations with Mittal? Sources close to the company confirm what the Premier Conte said yesterday in the Republic: Mr. Mittal was very impressed by his visit to the Taranto factory workers. Since the start of Mittal management, the "Indians" - as an important representative of the Government calls them - have been left to themselves in a minefield, where institutions, not only local, have competed to fuel tension by chanting to an elusive war of sovereignty. Conte introduced a truce, his is a relaxing act. He could not escape from Mr. Mittal. And Giuseppe Conte must be acknowledged for having taken a desperate situation for his hair after the company had deposited the withdrawal from the contract at the Court. Why did Conte take this responsibility by going into strong political contrast with Di Maio and Lezzi in particular? In the first instance I would say that Conte has another political sensitivity which, from the beginning of the Giallorossi experience, is in clear contrast with the Di Maio Lezzi line. Secondly, this is the right occasion to make your Green New Deal live. The Government could find an important bank in Europe also in the form of economic incentives: this is why the agreement is making everyone happy. Except for the fathers of the revocation of the penal shield which, unintentionally, gave way to a great operation not only industrial. What are the conditions for this public involvement? There has been talk of the involvement of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti but in the last hours the hypothesis Invitalia has matured which could enter directly into the shareholding of ArcelorMittal Italia. Invitalia, in fact, has no statutory restriction - as instead CDP has - which prevents it from entering the capital of companies in difficulty as it has already happened with IIA (Italian Industrial Bus). It is clear that if this thing is realized, the whole operation becomes easier, also in relation to the feared redundancies. In addition to public involvement and redundancies, what are the government and Mittal discussing? They are discussing the industrial plan and the future of the Taranto steel mill in particular. Mittal would like to keep production at 4.5 million tonnes when Taranto was expected to re-launch 8. And, above all, Mittal would like to produce more electric furnaces and less integral-cycle blast furnaces, which corresponds to lower occupancy. In summary: it is on the future of Taranto in particular that they are agreeing. What are the variables and the unknowns of this operation? At the moment it is early to have clear ideas about the new business plan, although - in addition to what we have just talked about - we know that the Government is working to create the so-called steel consumption center in Taranto involving Fincantieri and Leonardo-Finmeccanica . However, there are some major political and judicial uncertainties. First of all, in January there is an important electoral shift which, although local, could have national repercussions. Let us hope that, for the good of the country, this operation can be filed first and that any political jolts do not compromise it. It is no coincidence that Salvini today said that the less the state does the better the better. The other variable is the judicial one: everything depends on the truce that the extraordinary commissioners will be able to obtain Wednesday 27 from the judge of the court of Milan that has to decide on the emergency appeal against the withdrawal. If there was, as probable and desirable, the postponement of the hearing, one could gain a month of time, useful for defining those essential details to find an agreement with Mittal. However, already some good sign is manifesting ... Or? It does not seem to me a case that it was known today that the company will pay 100% of the due date by 31 October by tomorrow. In summary, how does this operation of public involvement of the Government seem to you? It seems to me a very important thing. We are going through very difficult times: France does it, even the USA did it, albeit with some specificity, at the time of the Fiat-Chrysler Joint Venture. I don't see why Italy can't do it. Of course, operations like this make sense on strategic assets. And this is it.
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by Pierluigi Mele 25 November 2019 "Ready for public involvement," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said, speaking in the Mittal case, adding that "the importance of the steel industry for the Italian economy is strategic". Is the Government therefore close to an agreement with ArcelorMittal? We talked about it with Giuseppe Sabella , director of Think-industry 4.0 that follows the Ilva story from the beginning. Sabella, why does the Premier Count say that the Government is ready for public involvement? Isn't it the proposal that has already been presented to ArcelorMittal? No, if anything, it is the request that ArcelorMittal made to the Government. And with important timing, Conte verified the political conditions and the possibility of the operation. But hasn't it always been said that Mittal didn't want the involvement of the public? Many things have changed, starting with the mood of the Mittal family about their stay in our country. What happened recently scared them. Explain yourself better ... On the one hand there is a difficult situation due to the difficulty of the steel market. With 8 million tons planned for 2019, only 4.5 will be produced. The company loses 2 million euros a day and will close the 2019 financial year with a loss of about 700 million. It is when they declared to the Court of Milan and that it also results from union sources. On the other hand, the instability of Italian politics and the story of the penal shield frightened the company. On October 15th, due to these fears, the appointment of Lucia Morselli, an Italian expert manager, matured. And when on October 23 the criminal shield is removed from the decree save companies, the company gives an ultimatum to the government: either in 15 days we give back a shield or we withdraw from the contract. And so it was: after having communicated it to the workers and their trade unions, they presented their withdrawal. How, then, did the Government manage to reopen negotiations with Mittal? Sources close to the company confirm what the Premier Conte said yesterday in the Republic: Mr. Mittal was very impressed by his visit to the Taranto factory workers. Since the start of Mittal management, the "Indians" - as an important representative of the Government calls them - have been left to themselves in a minefield, where institutions, not only local, have competed to fuel tension by chanting to an elusive war of sovereignty. Conte introduced a truce, his is a relaxing act. He could not escape from Mr. Mittal. And Giuseppe Conte must be acknowledged for having taken a desperate situation for his hair after the company had deposited the withdrawal from the contract at the Court. Why did Conte take this responsibility by going into strong political contrast with Di Maio and Lezzi in particular? In the first instance I would say that Conte has another political sensitivity which, from the beginning of the Giallorossi experience, is in clear contrast with the Di Maio Lezzi line. Secondly, this is the right occasion to make your Green New Deal live. The Government could find an important bank in Europe also in the form of economic incentives: this is why the agreement is making everyone happy. Except for the fathers of the revocation of the penal shield which, unintentionally, gave way to a great operation not only industrial. What are the conditions for this public involvement? There has been talk of the involvement of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti but in the last hours the hypothesis Invitalia has matured which could enter directly into the shareholding of ArcelorMittal Italia. Invitalia, in fact, has no statutory restriction - as instead CDP has - which prevents it from entering the capital of companies in difficulty as it has already happened with IIA (Italian Industrial Bus). It is clear that if this thing is realized, the whole operation becomes easier, also in relation to the feared redundancies. In addition to public involvement and redundancies, what are the government and Mittal discussing? They are discussing the industrial plan and the future of the Taranto steel mill in particular. Mittal would like to keep production at 4.5 million tonnes when Taranto was expected to re-launch 8. And, above all, Mittal would like to produce more electric furnaces and less integral-cycle blast furnaces, which corresponds to lower occupancy. In summary: it is on the future of Taranto in particular that they are agreeing. What are the variables and the unknowns of this operation? At the moment it is early to have clear ideas about the new business plan, although - in addition to what we have just talked about - we know that the Government is working to create the so-called steel consumption center in Taranto involving Fincantieri and Leonardo-Finmeccanica . However, there are some major political and judicial uncertainties. First of all, in January there is an important electoral shift which, although local, could have national repercussions. Let us hope that, for the good of the country, this operation can be filed first and that any political jolts do not compromise it. It is no coincidence that Salvini today said that the less the state does the better the better. The other variable is the judicial one: everything depends on the truce that the extraordinary commissioners will be able to obtain Wednesday 27 from the judge of the court of Milan that has to decide on the emergency appeal against the withdrawal. If there was, as probable and desirable, the postponement of the hearing, one could gain a month of time, useful for defining those essential details to find an agreement with Mittal. However, some good signs are already manifesting ... Or? It does not seem to me a case that it was known today that the company will pay 100% of the due date by 31 October by tomorrow. In summary, how does this operation of public involvement of the Government seem to you? It seems to me a very important thing. We are going through very difficult times: France does it, even the USA did it, albeit with some specificity, at the time of the Fiat-Chrysler Joint Venture. I don't see why Italy can't do it. Of course, operations like this make sense on strategic assets. And this is it.
