“The government has done its part, the company has not.” At the meeting in Rimini, the Minister of Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, takes a step towards Stellantis, asking for concrete signals. And in the end, the resounding response from the group led by Carlos Tavares comes. “It is essential that all stakeholders in the value chain, including the government, contribute to creating the right conditions for competitiveness, market dynamics and also peace of mind, essential to achieving the historic transition that mobility is going through.” At the top of Urso’s list of priorities is the Termoli gigafactory, with the project postponed by Acc, the joint venture between the group, Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies: “We have to respond because if, for example, at this time they do not respond positively,” “the Pnrr resources” allocated to this plant “will inevitably be used elsewhere.” And he sums it up: “We cannot lose the Pnrr resources because Stellantis is not fulfilling its commitments. And the deadline is in the next few hours.”
And even on this issue Stellantis does not stop and specifies: «As regards the ACC for Termoli, it is currently strengthening the Gigafactory project, in addition to the one in Germany, to introduce a new technology for the production of cells and modules, to be in line with market developments. On Stellantis’s part, several decisions were taken to increase the workload of hybrid components in Termoli.” We then moved on to the target of one million vehicles produced in Italy. As in the automotive discussion on 7 August, Urso reiterates that the executive has respected all the commitments made to Tavares. In the first meeting, the manager “asked me – he recalls – two things, perhaps believing that they were impossible to achieve. First, to eliminate the obstacle of Euro 7”, then “an incentive plan proportional to production in Italy: one billion euros. With the aim of dismantling the greatest number of highly polluting Euro 0, 1, 2.3 vehicles”, which “we achieved. We also had the objective of supporting Italian production”, which “did not happen because it was Stellantis that had to increase production in our country to meet the demands raised by the incentives”.
And here too the answer is clear: “Stellantis remains focused on implementing the plan for Italy for the coming years, already communicated to its union partners, which includes important projects such as Mirafiori 2030.” The harshest criticism levelled at the businessman by the minister, however, concerns his salary. “The remuneration of managers,” he stresses, “must be proportional not only to shareholders’ dividends, but also to the social sustainability of the country and the jobs it creates.”
Stimulating the company and encouraging the executive, from the stage shared with Urso in Rimini, is the CISL Secretary General, Luigi Sbarra. Stellantis “must tell us what the investments, models, guarantees on production capacity and job protection are” and I ask the government “to speed up because uncertainty and silence are no longer tolerable”. Italian factories are suffering: “There is fear and insecurity in Melfi, where Stellantis has announced 5 new models, but two more years of layoffs are needed. In the first months of 2025, the redundancy fund for direct workers and related industries will cease, with the risk of losing almost 25,000 jobs”.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
