Ilva’s previous owners, the Riva family, have filed a lawsuit to halt the sale procedure involving the Ilva plant in Taranto, Kallanish learns exclusively from sources close to the process. The Riva family is now suing the Italian ministry of economic development, the presidency of the council of Ministers of the Italian republic, the minister of environment and the three Ilva special commissioners.

According to a document presented to Rome’s administrative court (TAR), “… the progressive delays in the development of the environmental plan … show that the commissioners nominated by the Italian government have not been able to implement the modifications within the timeframe granted by the government.” However, according to Riva’s lawyers, these deadlines were mandatory for the former owners, who were “... unfairly deprived of the company due to the need for a new environmental plan."

The Riva family confirms in the lawsuit that the company was operating "… within the emissions limits… established by the Italian ministry of environment in 2011.” After the governmental takeover, "… Ilva has been managed at a loss and deprived of any industrial prospect,” with commissioner Gnudi recognising “… the sale of the assets as the only possible outcome of the special administration procedure,” the family says.

The Taranto-based steelmaker lost €2.4 billion during the special administration, the Riva family lawyers suggest in the lawsuit. The current insolvency experienced by Ilva is a direct result of the governmental takeover, they add. “The company was taken by the ownership through an expropriation process that was never openly declared,” the lawyers conclude in the document.