After a series of iterations, the Italian Parliament finally decided to withdraw the pollution immunity from the Ilva steel mill from November 3, 2019. Subsequently, Arcelor Mittal said on November 4 that it would withdraw from the acquisition of the Riva Steel Plant.

It is understood that Arcelor Mittal had previously proposed in a conditional acquisition agreement with the Riva Steel Plant that if the Italian government enacted a new environmental protection law, which would seriously damage the production and operation capacity of the Riva Steel Plant, Ansai Le Mittal has the right to withdraw from the acquisition. According to the plan, Arcelor Mittal will invest 2.4 billion euros (about 2.656 billion US dollars) to restore the operation of the Riva steel plant, of which 1.2 billion euros (about 1.328 billion US dollars) will be used for pollution control, and plans Achieve environmental governance goals by 2024. It is precisely because of this that the Italian government has given Arcelor Mittal a certain pollution immunity, providing a buffer time for the Riva Steel Plant to meet environmental standards.

Arcelor Mittal said that in addition to revoking the pollution immunity, the relevant Italian government departments also require that they meet certain environmental requirements before December 13, 2019, otherwise the No. 2 blast furnace of the Riva Steel Plant will be closed. Arcelor Mittal believes that he cannot complete his task before this deadline. In addition, the closure of the blast furnace and other specific events has increased legal and business uncertainty, which will greatly reduce the ability of Arcelor Mittal to advance its production operations plan at the Riva Steel Plant. Based on this, Arcelor Mittal decided to withdraw from the acquisition of the Riva Steel Plant.

Arcelor Mittal’s decision was severely criticized in Italy, saying the move would result in the loss of thousands of jobs in Italy.