SYRACUSE – Maybe it will be an impression – atavistic, fueled by decades of prejudice, but also of guilt – yet, even on this clear Sunday, the sky above Syracuse seems to darken as soon as the gaze crosses those chimneys from the motorway.
There is no longer the industrial area it once was.
In the good. And in the bad.
Here, where the Petrochemical hugs what the elderly remember as the most pristine part of a beautiful coast, on the eve of the restart in Sicily in the yellow zone, they proudly claim that they have never stopped. And it could not be otherwise, given that Petrochemicals – dozens of companies, including some multinationals, 7,500 employed directly and indirectly – represents 37.5% of regional exports, weighing 12 billion in turnover on Sicily’s GDP.
Yet among these enormous monsters of steel and smoke – for heaven’s sake, less monstrous in recent years and not only for the lawns and electric machines that run around inside the factories; but above all for hundreds of millions invested in reclamation and reduction of emissions and environmental impact – a new disturbing ghost is wandering.
That of Ilva.
The decline of the refining business and the pushed relocation of some giants, but also the costs of anti-pollution regulations. From the southernmost edge of a Europe that focuses on ecological transition, you can breathe the smell of “an epochal crisis, unprecedented”, as admitted Diego Bivona, experienced industrial manager, president of Confindustria Siracusa. Companies are shrinking or even thinking about closing their plants. And the real risk is to find, within a few months, a flurry of disputes like (and even worse) than that of Taranto.
Then we must prevent, long before being treated for a terminally ill patient. And this is the meaning of a path – delicate, complicated, anything but obvious – of which the first step will be taken tomorrow. Precisely in Syracuse, in the presence of Governor Nello Musumeci, with the signing of a protocol between the Region, 11 Municipalities of Syracuse, the Petrochemical companies (Lukoil, Sonatrach, Sasol, Versalis, Erg Power, Air Liquide), Confidustria Sicilia, the trade unions, the Eastern Sicily Port Authority, the South-East Chamber of Commerce.
The preparatory act of a decisive request to save the Petrochemical: the establishment of the so-called “complex industrial crisis area”, which the Ministry of Economic Development will have to recognize. And it is precisely the Mise that defines the “areas that concern specific territories subject to economic recession and employment loss of national importance and with a significant impact on national industrial policy, which cannot be solved with resources and instruments of regional competence only”.
For the governor (which has been following the dossier for months, entrusted to the councilor for productive activities, Mimmo Turano) the green light to the complex industrial crisis area “is the necessary condition to activate all possible economic and financial support measures, activating community financial resources , national and regional and identifying the facilities, incentives and financial instruments useful for the realization of industrial reconversion ». And Musumeci expresses the goal of “bringing the issue to the national tables to prevent the incipient difficulties from leading to a real and irreversible crisis in the Syracuse petrochemical center which would also have serious repercussions on the national industrial system”.
For Confindustria, which acknowledges “the regional government and the prefect of Syracuse of a path of listening and sharing”, it is “a tool that will serve to turn the national spotlight on a pole without equal in Italy”, crossed according to Bivona “by a situation highly critical, at a time when the ecological transition is strictly connected to the new sacrifices required of companies, which have already invested billions in remediation and reduction of environmental impact ». Despite this, the facts speak for themselves: in Syracuse (which maintains the largest share of employees in industry, 12.4%, and the highest manufacturing specialization index, equal to 0.66, of all the Sicilian provinces) demobilization is already much more than a threat.
First the threatened, but then averted, shutdown of the Lukoil plants for maintenance at the beginning of the year, in a strategy that sources close to the Russian management define “rather than reorganization, survival in order not to close”; then the dispute of the 130 workers of the BPIS; in the midst of the fading of enthusiasm for the investment plan of the Eni group, on which a domino effect is feared after the partial disengagement from Porto Marghera which could have repercussions in Priolo on Versalis.
The most devastating effect is on employment. The current 7,500 workers (3,250 in large companies, 2,500 in the metalworking industry and over 1,000 in service companies) are the result of a ten-year haemorrhage with thousands of jobs already lost. And it is understandable that for the trade unions the protocol is “of considerable importance for our industrial area”, also because “it includes a series of fundamental guarantees for all workers”, in a context in which “the industrial center, despite the increased energy crisis in the last year of the pandemic, it continues to remain a point of reference for the Syracusan and Sicilian economy ”.
Vera Carasi, secretary of Ust-Cisl of Syracuse and Ragusa, explains the concept: «We ask for income support and the complete relocation of employees in the event of site reconversion. Then, for the related industries, we underline the need for more transparent tenders that guarantee jobs by eliminating the practice of the maximum discount and respecting the ministerial tables on hourly wages ”.
In the memorandum of understanding (it will be delivered today to the signatories, but Sicily has had the opportunity to consult it in the latest draft) there are many inputs on the «transformation of the petrochemical and chemical industry, with important and indispensable investments in the processes of” decarbonization “». The 9 pages also contain “guidelines for industrial conversion”, with some overall projects: a plant for “the production of methanol starting from natural gas or asphalt”, one of “High-Efficiency Ocgt” for “the production of electricity “, One for the production of biofuel, but also a regasifier, defined in the document” a new gasification unit for the production of synthesis gas from waste, to be used for the production of green hydrogen and, subsequently, in hydrogen for electrolysis or to produce chemicals’.
In the protocol also “the first project proposals” Lukoil (based on “decarbonisation and energy efficiency”, “circular economy” and “hydrogen”), Sonatrach and Sasol (which focus on “carbon capture” pilot plants), Erg Power (with “high efficiency Turbogas” ), Air Liquide (commitment to “decarbonisation of the site”) and Versalis (confirms “its territorial vocation”).
In a context in which the Port Authority of Augusta “Confirms the full interest in the conservation of state-owned concessions” and “creates all possible integrations with the opportunities offered by the Zes area of eastern Sicily” and the Chamber of Commerce plays the role of “development agent”, the Region will be the engine with “Sustainable development initiatives with a strong innovative character”, with the unprecedented perspective of starting a negotiation with the Ministry of Ecological Transition “for the re-measurement of the Sin (Site of national interest, ed), excluding uncontaminated areas, useful for the establishment of new industrial investments “looking at their” compatibility “with water and soil remediation projects.
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In the protocol, at the explicit request of the trade unions, also the «commitments for the safeguarding and development of employment». Among which one stands out: “In the case of temporary shutdown of the plants, the conversion plan of the Polo – reads the draft of article 4 – will provide for a program of human resources management, through management tools that aim to safeguard the employment and professionalism of the territory as well as mobility procedures for human resources that can accrue pension requirements in a short time ».
But we also look ahead: with the “new investments”, “new hires are to be envisaged”, but also “specific technical training courses” in order to “create new professional figures to accompany the energy transition”.
The distant future, in conclusion. Built on a present of suspicion and fear. It starts tomorrow, with 25 signatures on a protocol. One of many; or perhaps the decisive one, at the time of the Recovery. The rest, then, will be seen. Let’s hope.