The group’s situation with respect to the Campania USW projects at 31 December 2013 still continues to be extremely complex and uncertain (as can be seen from the wealth of information above).
The decisions of the administrative courts relating to claims made in relation to the costs of the WDF plants not yet amortised as at the date of termination of the service contracts (15 December 2005), which have become final following the ruling of the Supreme Court reported previously, constitute positive elements and are significant, supporting both the position adopted by the Group regarding the correctness of its actions and the subsequent assessments made to date. In this context, in fact, the impairments which in previous years had been made to the overall value of claims for damages relating to the WDF plants totalling € 91.1 million have been issued and the resulting positive economic effects, together with the interest component acknowledged by the enforcement judge in the decision of 24 July, net of related tax, were recorded in the results of discontinued operations.
The conclusion at first instance of the criminal proceedings in the court of Naples with the decision of absolute acquittal of both the natural persons and legal persons involved "because there is no case to answer", and the comprehensive reasons filed on 1 February 2014 in which the judges say: "The disastrous attempt to dispose of waste in Campania was not the result of unlawful conduct on the part of the accused, nor of technical inadequacies, nor of a lack of organisation in the management of the plants" and "what failed to work was not the plants but the fact that the waste cycle, as organically and effectively designed, was not fully in place, being incomplete both in the initial phase, the separate collection, and in particular in the final one, the EfW plants at Acerra and Santa Maria La Fossa not having been built"; these statements reinforce the belief, supported by the opinions of the lawyers representing the company, that the various proceedings still ongoing in several jurisdictions (administrative, criminal and civil) will prove the correctness of the activities carried out. Taking into account the recent decisions made by the administrative judiciary in relation to the areas covered by the municipality of Giugliano, although pending on the merits, and for which the assessment of the risk of failure, with the support of the lawyers advising FIBE in the related disputes, falls within the scope of mere possibility, as things stand a precise timetable for the completion of the various ongoing proceedings cannot be given.
In view of the complexity and disjointed nature of the various legal actions described in detail in the foregoing paragraphs, it cannot be ruled out that events which are at present unforeseeable could arise in the future and require current valuations to be revised.