BRINDISI – «The closure of LyondellBasell is avoided. There is a risk of economic collapse in the area.” Thus begins the worried note released by Francesco Cannalire, city secretary of the Brindisi Democratic Party and council leader of the Municipality of Brindisi. «After the closure of a polypropylene plant with the redundancy and relocation of 47 work units, increasingly black clouds are gathering over the LyondellBasell plant in Brindisi».
«In fact, the American company, through its CEO Peter Vanacker, has announced a strategic review of its European activities.
At the same time, however, it confirmed the investment for the construction of an industrial plant for chemical recycling with MoReTec technology in Wesseling, a hub for the selection and recycling of plastic waste in Knapsack, both in Germany, and announced resources for the revamping of the catalysis plants in Ferrara. There is no talk of new investments for the Brindisi plant and therefore, being excluded from an investment plan, it seriously risks being the sacrificial victim of the corporate reorganization. Faced with a similar scenario, the fate of the entire chemical-industrial supply chain in the Brindisi area becomes an unknown with the real explosion of a social bomb whose echoes will involve the whole of Puglia”.
«We can no longer make the mistake of waiting for events to overwhelm the social and economic fabric of Brindisi and for this reason we will immediately urge all local, regional, national institutions, employers’ and trade union associations to immediately convene an operational meeting to coordinate all the actions necessary to safeguard and defend the territory”.
