Ex Ilva, Urso: mandate to Adi commissioners to update the tender. Mayor Bitetti: 'I have not signed anything'

"We will direct the commissioners" of Acciaierie di Italia "to immediately update the tender for full decarbonisation. Which will happen in the coming week'. This was explained by the Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso at the end of the round table with local authorities on decarbonisation. There was no signing of the programme agreement at the meeting: 'We postponed it to the meeting of 12 August, allowing the local authorities to express themselves fully. In the meantime, thanks to the consensus that emerged during the meeting, we managed to have all the elements to fully guide the commissioners in updating the tender, which absolutely must take place in the coming week, so that the negotiations can be concluded within a useful, congruous timeframe, also with respect to the financial sustainability of the plant"..

 "I haven't signed anything. I am without a pen. We have postponed the confrontation to 12 August in order to study the new draft programme agreement in depth, so that the municipal councillors can evaluate it carefully'. This was stated by the mayor of Taranto, Piero Bitetti, at the end of the meeting at Mimit on the programme agreement for the former Ilva. 'It is necessary to be aware of what the guarantees will be for the city of Taranto and its inhabitants. They have given us the draft but I have not had a chance to read it yet, they are documents that require serious study with competent people,' Bitetti explained.

Bitetti is reportedly ready to withdraw the resignation he presented last Monday. The decision is said to have matured in the last few hours, after days of political tensions linked to the management of the steel dossier and the protests of some environmentalists. Just on Monday, the mayor had spoken of 'political inability' when announcing the step back, following protests received during a discussion with associations and movements on the ecological transition of the former Ilva.

The withdrawal of the resignation, which seemed ruled out until yesterday, would be linked to the need to guarantee the city's institutional presence at the ministerial table. The mayor's absence would leave the city's representation uncovered at a crucial moment. Following the resignation, the City Council meeting that was supposed to give him the mandate on the issue was also cancelled. Despite the summit, the signing of the programme agreement might not take place today. Minister Urso had announced that he wanted to close the agreement on the construction of the three electric furnaces, postponing the in-depth discussion on the Dri hub to a later date. Invited to the table are the president of the Puglia Region Michele Emiliano, the president of the Province of Taranto Gianfranco Palmisano, the mayors of Taranto and Statte Piero Bitetti and Fabio Spada, and the commissioner of the Ionian Sea Port Authority Giovanni Gugliotti. Meanwhile, a majority meeting is underway in Taranto to assess developments.