The electoral campaign for the spring municipalities in Taranto (one of the big cities called to vote together with Genoa, Palermo, Verona and Catanzaro) has just begun when the theme of the former Ilva is already inflaming and dividing. After the vote of Pd, M5S, Forza Italia and Italia Viva, which a few days ago in the committees in the Chamber sank and repealed Article 21 of the Milleproroghe decree which transferred 575 million from the reclamations headed by Ilva in extraordinary administration to the future decarbonisation of the iron and steel industry of Taranto and after the irritation expressed with the heads of delegation by Prime Minister Mario Draghi, while waiting to understand what initiatives the executive will now take, the Minister of Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani, relaunches.
Interviewed on February 20 by Radio 24 on the amendments of the majority that stopped decarbonisation (Brothers of Italy were also on the same line while the Lega said yes to the transfer of funds), Cingolani declared: “I believe that the urgency to decarbonise in Ilva is very high, because first we decarbonise the product first and the company regain competitiveness. Obviously, there is also the importance of remediation, but perhaps at the moment priority one is decarbonisation ». “Parliament is sovereign, so we must respect this decision, but I believe that a solution will soon be reached,” adds Cingolani.
Musillo: “Just a nice word”
In Taranto, on the other hand, in the same hours, a very different thought takes place. On the day of the official presentation, Walter Musillo, former secretary of the Pd of Taranto – the party from which he left in early 2018 – and now candidate for mayor of the center-right (Fratelli d’Italia, Forza Italia and Lega), of the civics of the Pact for Taranto and other formations ranging from right to left, declares: “Decarbonization continues to be a beautiful word invented by the regional government.” «Those 500 million, for the challenges we have to face, are really a drop in the bucket – says Musillo -. We do not yet know if those 500 million must go to reclamation or decarbonization. Here someone is making fun of us and we have to say it forcefully ». “I can not stand government figures, including the Democratic Party – adds Musillo -, who have been telling us these things since 2012”.
Melucci: “Back to the Middle Ages”
The outgoing mayor, Rinaldo Melucci, of the Democratic Party, at the head of a center-left alliance with the Pd and M5S, does not reply to Musillo but launches a vitriolic joke: “Back to the Middle Ages”. Melucci has in fact called his program the “Taranto Ecosystem” and sustainability, the energy and ecological transition and a new vision of economy, no longer steel-centric, are the cornerstones.
Ignite the controversy
But the reclamation issue also inflames the clash with the Puglia Region and the president Michele Emiliano. Speaking at the presentation of the candidate for mayor Musillo, the Puglia regional coordinator of Forza Italia, the deputy Mauro D’Attis, said: “We strongly defended the holding of funds for the reclamation of Taranto, the 500 million, but there was an attempt , in particular the Democratic Party and Emiliano, to take over the management of the decarbonisation funds. The Democratic Party, at one point, was in favor of a reformulation of Article 21 of the Milleproroghe if the National Government had introduced a new figure of Government Commissioner to manage the decarbonisation funds and if the Government Commissioner had been appointed in the person of the president of the Puglia Region ».
«We – adds D’Attis – have blocked this attempt. Those who tell Taranto have fought for Taranto, they did them because they wanted to bring the money into the management of the presidency of the Puglia Region and we have blocked this thing. ” leader of the Pd group in the Budget Committee in the Chamber: “On the issue of the steel mill we were the first to oppose the subtraction of resources from reclamation, while Forza Italia did not know whether to side with the Tarantini or with the comrades of the center-right”. “We – observes Pagano – have demanded that there be a guarantee of sharing and public control over the use of resources for the decarbonization of the former Ilva without ever taking steps back”.