Italy's center-left PD proposes immunity for past damage at Ilva

[November 05, 2019]  MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's center-left Democratic Party (PD), part of the ruling coalition, will propose restoring legal immunity to ArcelorMittal <MT.AS> for past environmental damage caused by troubled steel group Ilva, the party's leader said on Tuesday.

The ILVA steel plant is seen next to the Tamburi district, in Taranto, southern Italy April 27, 2018. REUTERS/Tony Gentile/File Photo

"Anyone who pollutes should pay but a group implementing an environmental plan should not have penal liability for previous actions for which it had no responsibility. We will propose parliamentary measures in this sense," PD party leader Nicola Zingaretti said on a statement.

ArcelorMittal said on Monday it was abandoning a deal to buy Ilva's huge steel works in the southern city of Taranto after Rome reneged on a pledge to give it immunity from prosecution over environmental damage at the heavily polluting plant.

(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte, writing by James Mackenzie)

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