End of partnership depends on you - Mantovano to AMittal

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 23 - The possible termination by the government of its partnership with multinational steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal in the struggling former ILVA steelworks in Taranto depends solely on the latter, Cabinet Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano said on Tuesday.
    "The government does not 'prefer to end the partnership' with the ArcelorMittal group: this eventuality is imposed by your decisions," wrote Mantovano in a letter to ArcelorMittal CEO Aditya Mittal.
    "The crisis situation of Acciaierie d'Italia S.p.A. ('ADI, the former ILVA) stems exclusively from the decision of the ArcelorMittal Group to abandon its prerogatives as an industrial partner," continued Mantovano in reply to a letter sent by Mittal to Premier Giorgia Meloni on Thursday.
    "The government, therefore, did not adopt 'a unilateral approach' in this matter, but rather sought every possible solution in the best and exclusive interest of ADI, its parent company Acciaierie d'Italia Holding S.p.A) and all their stakeholders, including first and foremost the workers and suppliers," he added.
    On Monday sources close to the Franco-Indian multinational said it had yet to receive a response from the government to a letter offering fresh terms on the ADI steelworks in Taranto.
    ArcelorMittal recently backed out of a deal to up its stake in the troubled works, which have been roiled by falling demand and industrial and environmental woes amid high cancer rates in the Puglia port city. (ANSA).