Former Ilva, Taranto needs an entrepreneur to relaunch the company

The former Ilva needs an entrepreneur. The existence of an entrepreneur who devotes himself twenty-four hours a day to his creature is the first guarantee: if not of success at least of existence, if not of certain prosperity at least of lasting resilience. The Italian iron and steel industry - particularly in electric furnaces - enjoys good health. Especially in the provinces. Far from markets, infrastructure, logistical hubs. It is of course full of contradictions. Entrepreneurs are not saints. Family capitalism has flaws. Industrialists often have to resolve the conflict between their interest - as shareholders - and the interest of the company. Because these interests may not coincide. However, as the economic data and the strategic prospects of the steel cities show, this works. Between Brescia and Mantua, Udine and Bergamo, Cremona and Lecco, Vicenza and Reggio Emilia, Padua and Verona the identification between the company, the entrepreneur and the territory is solid and cohesive. However, the circle must be closed. The complex process of Acciaierie d'Italia is not yet finished. Friday 20 September is the deadline for the formal submission of expressions of interest. Only at that point - after skimming by the three commissioners Giovanni Fiori, Giancarlo Quaranta and Davide Tabarelli - will it be possible for interested companies to enter the financial data room. By the end of November, it will be known whether the former Ilva will be unpacked into many small pieces or whether the unitary offer will prevail on the whole industrial body: Taranto, Novi Ligure, Cornigliano. Thirteen years have passed. The Rivas were entrepreneurs. In these thirteen years there have been commissioners, consultants, bankers, politicians, councillors, magistrates. No entrepreneurs, however. The Milan and Taranto public prosecutors are assessing the work of the management led on behalf of Arcelor Mittal by Lucia Morselli. The former Ilva needs someone who works around the clock with the dedication, the spirit of collaboration or confrontation with the trade unions, the same identification as those who - in the electric furnace sector, with smaller dimensions - do good or bad every day, but never take their foot off the gas. You need someone to put face, money, heart, time into it. The circle must be closed. There is an interconnection between Taranto and the rest of Italy. For the strength of the small steel towns to find sap from the transformation of the former Ilva - again - into a real enterprise. Perhaps different from the one known for decades. Probably less mammoth. But alive and vital. Therefore, not only Taranto, but the entire Italian steel industry and our manufacturing industry needs the former Ilva to have an entrepreneur again.