Alitalia salvage plan reveals Commission rift

Berlusconi’s controversial rescue plan for the troubled Italian airline, nicknamed Fenice, revealed deep divisions yesterday (3 September) between the political and technical sides of the European Commission over the plan’s conformity with EU state aid rules.

Antonio Tajani, the EU transport commissioner nominated by Silvio Berlusconi in June, has publicly backed the operation, which involves merging Alitalia with Air One, Italy’s second biggest airline.

“The plan is valuable concerning the participation of private actors, favouring the market and competition,” Tajani told Italian news agencies after an informal meeting of EU transport ministers in La Rochelle on 2 September.

But Brussels officials dealing with the merger showed much less enthusiasm towards the rescue plan. “It is very tricky,” said a transport expert at the Commission. 

The Italian government decided to freeze national competition rules to allow the merger to take place. According to the plan, the merged company will be split in two, with a so-called ‘bad company’ acquiring all the debts of the buried Alitalia, which could then be paid back by the Italian State. The main assets, air slots and employees will be absorbed by the other company.

However, under this scenario, an EU procedure regarding irregular state aid seems inevitable. At the first meeting yesterday (3 September) between the Commission and the president of the company created to acquire the ‘good’ Alitalia, Roberto Colaninno, focused mainly on the plan’s compliance with EU state aid rules. Discussions about a €300 million emergency loan received from the Italian State last April were also on the menu (EURACTIV 23/07/08).

The meeting did not involve experts from the Commission’s competition directorate general because Brussels is still evaluating whether it has competence concerning the planned merger between Alitalia and Air One. According to the EU treaties, the Commission plays a role in national mergers only if at least one of the companies involved receives more than a third of its turnover outside its borders, which seems at first sight unlikely in this case since both Alitalia and Air One operate primarily in Italy.

If this is the case, it would only be up to the Italian competition authority to intervene. And since the government has just approved a decree freezing national competition rules on the case, the merger will be accepted without possibile opposition.

Foreign airlines and Italian consumers may not like such a scenario, however. Ryanair in particular could oppose the settlement as it would keep it out of the most profitable Italian internal air route, between Rome and Milan, that would be turned into an Alitalia monopoly, with potential damaging effects on ticket prices for consumers.

The European Parliament’s Transport Committee has invited Commissioner Tajani to explain the complex issue during a hearing next Tuesday in Brussels (9 September).

Read more with Euractiv

Transport ministers back optional road tolls

Meeting in La Rochelle on 1-2 September for an informal session, EU transport ministers showed some reserve towards Commission proposals to charge truck drivers for the costs they impose in terms of congestion, noise and air pollution.