Milan appeals court confirms closure of ex-ILVA hot area by 28 October

Judicial ruling and shutdown timetable

The Milan Court of Appeal rejected an appeal by Acciaierie d'Italia and ex-ILVA administrators in extraordinary administration seeking to suspend the court-ordered shutdown of the Taranto steelworks' hot area. The decision upholds a late July ruling mandating that all blast furnace operations halt by 28 October 2026. The phased decommissioning of the production line will commence on 16 September 2026 with Blast Furnace 1, proceed to Blast Furnace 4, and conclude with Blast Furnace 2, which remains the only furnace currently operating at the facility.

Priority of public health over industrial output

The decision concludes a civil action initiated in Milan in 2021 by eleven Taranto residents, including members of a parents' association and a twelve-year-old child suffering from a rare genetic condition. The litigation previously cleared the Milan Tribunal, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and two appeals court rulings. The original July decree mandated that hot area operations cease within three months unless operators remove all on-site asbestos and bring particulate matter emissions within statutory limits. The appellate judges determined that when constitutional rights to business enterprise clash with citizens' rights to health and tolerable emission levels, health protections must prevail.

Ascanio Amenduni, legal representative for the resident group, commented on the outcome of the proceedings.

Human health comes before the needs of production. Therefore, the plants must be stopped if they are dangerous to health and the environment.

Supply chain dismissals and regional employment fallout

Following the verdict, the Aigi association representing supply chain businesses notified the Fiom, Fim, Uilm, and Usb trade unions that member companies are immediately restarting collective dismissal procedures for 2,500 workers. The dismissals had been frozen on 8 September 2026 following government talks at Palazzo Chigi. The primary hot area directly employs roughly 5,000 workers. Across the direct workforce, contractors, and regional suppliers in Taranto and neighbouring provinces, union representatives calculate that over 10,000 total jobs are at risk.

Political reactions and future ownership bids

Trade unions demanded that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's administration immediately convene a permanent table at Palazzo Chigi to execute a social security plan and avoid mass redundancies. Confindustria Taranto president Salvatore Toma urged the government to issue an emergency decree allowing reduced production under environmental guidelines during a transition to electric arc furnaces and direct reduced iron. Opposition politicians also responded, with Democratic Party officials Andrea Orlando and Antonio Misiani criticising government industrial policy, while Green party leader Angelo Bonelli noted that nearly 3 billion euros in public funds had been spent across 14 years without achieving industrial conversion.

The Taranto steel plant, once Europe's largest steelworks, was placed under state-controlled extraordinary administration in early 2024 following the departure of ArcelorMittal. The Italian steel federation Federacciai, led by president Antonio Gozzi, has registered formal interest on behalf of an Italian corporate consortium. Non-Italian suitors include the Indian group Jindal, Czech group CE Industries, and United States investment firm Flacks, while the Italian government has left open the possibility of state participation.