Between technical tables, postponements and political tensions, summer 2025 does not unlock the future of the former Ilva. No concrete agreement, while Taranto awaits answers on work and decarbonisation
Taranto, summer 2025. The temperature rises, the sea is splendid, the air a little less. But the only thing that turns most of the cokeria is the table on the former Ilva. Or rather: the postponement table, enthusiastic statements and symbolic signatures. Because this time, after four hours of discussions at the Ministry of Companies and Made in Italy, the result was a postponement: new appointment on July 31, to be precise.
In the meantime, however, there is a report. Signed. Complete with ministerial enthusiasm. A success – they say – in the name of a “collaborative climate”. Translated: he did not quarrel too strong. At least not in front of the unions.
The truth? The agreements do not sign because the institutional protagonists – mayor of Taranto and president of the Puglia Region – seem to play Risiko instead of building a future for the largest steel plant in Europe. The regasifying ship that must guarantee decarbonisation rather than a solution has become the symbol of a Cold War all Apulian.
On the one hand, the newly elected mayor, Piero Bitetti, who asks for time, postpones the city council, invokes participation and shared responsibility (once downloaded, today “deliberative democracy”). On the other hand Michele Emiliano, president of the region and tireless actor of the political-media scene, who alternates with an alternating drama and institutional distrust: “Italy delegates its industrial destiny in Taranto”. But in the meantime you don’t even take the briga to tell us what it really wants to do with the regasifier.
And so, while the government tries to set up the most advanced Green steel tank (eight million tons of “good” steel, you are only in Taranto), the South is divided, the decisions slip and the decarbonisation plan remains stuck between the technical evaluations and political doubts. Moreover, it is known: without the blessing of the city council, the electric ovens do not turn on.
To avoid that this time the table ended up as a condominium meeting with more delegations than decisions, Minister Urso extracted the ace from the sleeve: a technical commission. One for all, all for one. Everyone will be inside: ministries, local authorities, snams, ports, municipalities, and perhaps even a couple of technicians with the desire to really work. By July 28, everything will have to decide. Or at least something. Like if the gas serves, if the ship can be parked, if the ovens can be turned on without making the debate explode.
Meanwhile, on July 30, the Taranto city council will meet to do what was supposed to do months ago: to take the political responsibility to choose. Whether it’s a yes, a no, or another “ni” disguised as interlocutory motion.
The next day, all back in Rome for the large table – the same, renewed, repaired, revisited – with the hope that this time something more than a report will be signed. Maybe a real agreement. Maybe an operational plan. Maybe a commitment that goes beyond the titles of the press releases.
In the meantime, the only real concrete act is the establishment of a “formal commitment” for redundant workers. An important point, for heaven’s sake. But once again, politics seems to be playing chess with human pawns.
In the end, perhaps, Europe will have to explain to us what to do with Taranto. Or they will be the Azeri of Baku Steel, waiting for the race to be reopened “in light of the new conditions”. But be careful: the light, in Taranto, is still that of the ovens. And it is not said that you illuminate the road.
