Italian Senate Approves Measure To Keep Furnace Operating
08/07/2015 - Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has won a confidence vote in the Senate on emergency measures to, among other things, keep open a steel plant that has been deemed unsafe, according to a Reuters report.
According to Reuters, one of the measures, contained in a single decree that was pushed through ahead of parliamentary summer recess, blocks a local magistrates order to idle a furnace at the Ilva steelworks.
The furnace was ordered to be shut down following the death of a worker at the plant. The move would have left the plant with but one operating furnace, according to Reuters. The plant has five, it said.
Reuters said the legislation prevents companies considered of strategic importance from being seized by magistrates on safety grounds.
According to Reuters, the government took control of the plant in January to save about 16,000 jobs. The future of the plant had been in question owing to accusations that air emissions were causing cancer among nearby residents.
The furnace was ordered to be shut down following the death of a worker at the plant. The move would have left the plant with but one operating furnace, according to Reuters. The plant has five, it said.
Reuters said the legislation prevents companies considered of strategic importance from being seized by magistrates on safety grounds.
According to Reuters, the government took control of the plant in January to save about 16,000 jobs. The future of the plant had been in question owing to accusations that air emissions were causing cancer among nearby residents.
