The European Commission is prepared to play its part in trying to save the giant ILVA steel mill in the southern Italian city of Taranto, with financial support potentially available through the EU regional fund, Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani said.

"We are ready to do whatever we can. We are committed to keeping the steel industry in Europe," Tajani told Reuters at the margins of a conference in northern Italy at the weekend.

He said he would take part in a meeting with the Italian authorities next Friday in the regional capital Bari to discuss the future of the plant, which has been blamed for deadly leaks of cancer-causing chemicals.

In July Italian prosecutors appointed special administrators at the plant, the biggest of its kind in Europe, saying toxic emissions coming from the mill had caused an "environmental disaster" in Taranto and the surrounding region.

ILVA has until the end of September to come up with a plan to clean up the plant or risk a total shutdown, following a damning court ruling which accused operators of knowingly allowing the deadly pollution to continue.

The plant, which has around 12,000 workers with another 8,000 jobs dependent on it, is one of the few major industry employers in a recession-struck region of high unemployment.

Tajani said the regional government in Puglia could ask the EU Commission to allow resources already earmarked by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) but not yet spent by the region to be used for the ILVA plant.

"This would be the quickest and easiest way to find financial resources for the ILVA plant," Tajani said. "Money coming from the ERDF could be used for mitigating the environmental impact caused by ILVA production," the Commissioner said.

He also called for the European Investment Bank to step in, to create a guarantee fund to support private investment for the ILVA plant’s restructuring.

A government-appointed commission is currently studying what measures will be needed to get environmental approvals to be issued for the plant. Their recommendations are expected at the end of the month.