Former Ilva, the Court of Cassation rejects the appeal for the release of blast furnace 1 from seizure

The Court of Cassation has rejected the appeal of Acciaierie d’Italia, formerly Ilva, for the release from seizure of the blast furnace 1. The provision of the fourth section was announced today and AGI learns it from legal sources. The hearing before the fourth section took place yesterday, chaired by Donatella Ferranti. Blast furnace 1 is the one seized without the right to use it maggio 2025 due to a fire that broke out in one of the tuyeres. The former Ilva had tried to obtain the release of the plant in recent months but the Taranto Prosecutor’s Office twice said no and in February the investigating judge Mariano Robertiello also expressed no. The motivation for the Supreme Court’s decision will be known in 30 days and the company, once it has read the motivation, will decide what to do.

The words of Minister Pichetto on ex Ilva

The closure of the former Ilva would be “a defeat for Italy. Certainly the former Ilva is a plant that can give a lot to Italy”: Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Minister of the Environment, said this about the former Ilva on the sidelines of Forum in Masseria, the event of Bruno Vespa and Comin & Partners. “The choice of the Italian Government is precisely to make the Ilva of Taranto, and naturally the Genoa, Novi Ligure and Racconigi part, one of the most modern plants in Europe”, he added. “On the on the steel front, Italy is already the country that has the most modern steel mills in Europe with electric furnaces in almost all the other steel mills – he continued -. It is clear that there is a local environmental condition – he then added, referring to Taranto -. A condition also for evaluation by local politics and institutions which must find a balance with respect to the Government and what an industrial investor may be. It can’t just be a financial operation“. An industrial investor, concluded Pichetto Fratin, “where there are proposals being carried forward at the moment and which Mimit is evaluating”.

The reaction of the Mimit owner

“I think that even the judiciary is aware that a seizure of evidence that has lasted for over a year is an anomaly. And I believe he is equally aware that this long-term seizure, which is continuing, has already caused over 2 billion euros in damage to the company.” Adolfo UrsoMinister of Business, on the sidelines of Forum in masseria – the event of Bruno Vespa and Comin & Partners – regarding the no of the Court of Cassation, pronounced today, on the release from seizure of blast furnace 1, release requested by the company. The two billion in damages, according to Urso, refer “to the loss of production, the necessary redundancy fund and any subsequent interventions for restoration. The amount of damage caused is already equal to 2 billion euros”. Maintaining the seizure of blast furnace 1 can discourage investors towards the former Ilva? Urso replies: “What did potential investors perceive? That there is a context that wants the plant to close.”