Steelworkers at Italy’s ILVA plant, local residents and The Left submit complaint to European Ombudsman for over a decade of inaction against Europe’s ‘human sacrifice zone’.

Former ILVA workers, local NGO Peacelink and Left MEP Valentina Palmisano (Movimento 5 Stelle, Italy) today submitted a complaint to European Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho over the European Commission’s failure to act for over 12 years against the Italian steel giant ILVA based in Taranto, Italy.

Elevated cancer, morbidity and mortality rates have been pervasive among steelworkers and local residents in the surroundings of the plant, to the point that in 2022 the United Nations classified Taranto as a “human sacrifice zone”. A European infringement procedure against Italy was launched in 2013 but no action has resulted in those years, as residents continue to suffer the consequences of air, soil and groundwater pollution.

MEP Valentina Palmisano said: “We have brought this complaint to the European Ombudsman, alongside associations and citizens of Taranto, because we are tired of the European Commission’s ongoing delaying tactics regarding public health. Twelve years have passed since the infringement procedure was opened against Italy for violations of environmental standards in Taranto, and despite a clear ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union mandating the suspension of industrial activities, the Commission continues to delay, failing in its role as guardian of the Treaties. European law cannot be applied selectively and Taranto cannot be treated as a rights-free zone. For this reason, we urge the European Ombudsman to recognize the Commission’s maladministration and to recommend the immediate referral of Italy to the Court of Justice for its failure to enforce EU environmental regulations. Europe must wake up and take decisive action now to defend the right to health, otherwise, more and more citizens will lose trust in its institutions”.

The complaint submitted today is based on three grounds: the Commission’s significant and unjustified delays in handling the Ilva infringement procedure, a lack of adequate and transparent communication with the complainants and the general public, as well as the failure to bring Italy to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The authors argue that while the Commission has issued plenty of statements in the 12 years of the infringement procedure, yet it has taken no meaningful action to protect human health.

Read the complaint submitted to the European Ombudsman here.