Italy, Alcoa to meet again on Feb 22 over smelters

ROME Feb 11 (Reuters) - Italy's government, trade unions and managers of Alcoa Inc. (AA.N) met briefly on Thursday to discuss the fate of two Alcoa plants in Italy and promised to convene again on Feb. 22, an Italian government spokesman said.

Alcoa said last week it was willing to continue to discuss ways to resolve energy costs at its aluminum smelters in Italy and pulled back from an earlier announcement that it would idle its two plants there on Feb. 6.

Industry Minister Claudio Scajola, who is trying to avoid the shutdowns at the Fusina smelter near Venice and Portovesme plant in Sardinia, said he appreciated the "responibility" shown by the U.S. aluminium giant and by trade unions.

"The delay to Feb. 22 allows us to continue to work constructively with the European Commission and look for ways to find a stable solution," he said in a statement.

In November, Alcoa said it would temporarily idle operations at its 194,000-tonne-per-year smelters after the European Commission ordered it to pay back most of the state aid it received in Italy since 2006.

The European Union's executive body ruled that Alcoa must repay state power subsidies previously agreed to by the Italian government and the U.S. aluminium producer.

Alcoa argues that a $300 million penalty imposed by the Commission, currently under appeal, would have a "devastating impact" given the dramatic decline in aluminum prices amid the global recession.

Aluminium prices slid more than 60 percent from record highs reached in July 2008 to the 7-1/2-year low hit a year ago.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is battling to control rising unemployment and faces important regional elections in March, wrote a letter to Alcoa Chief Executive Klaus Kleinfeld this month, asking him to wait until the European Commission studies the situation before shutting the smelters.

Italian unemployment rose to 8.5 percent in December, its highest since monthly records began in January 2004, and Italy has one of the industrialized world's lowest workforce participation rates at only 22 million people from the 60 million population.

Alcoa's Italian operations employ about 2,000 people. (Reporting by Gavin Jones; editing by Tim Dobbyn)