Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni put pressure on the European Commission on Sunday to approve the agreement under which Lufthansa would take a minority stake in the Italian airline ITA – successor to Alitalia. Didier Reynders has recently become the competent Commissioner, who takes over the Competition powers from Margarethe Vestager.
Meloni lashed out at the European authorities on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi. “Something strange is happening. The same European Commission that has asked us for years to find a solution to the ITA problem is blocking the solution we have found,” she said. The Italian Prime Minister says he “doesn’t understand this and wants an explanation.”
The Commission responded on Sunday that the agreement had not yet been formally notified to it. “If a transaction constitutes a concentration and has a European dimension, companies must always report this to the Commission,” said a spokesperson.
Informal agreement
Lufthansa’s plans for a 41 percent stake in ITA date back to the end of May. Discussions are said to have already taken place, with the aim of reaching an informal agreement before formally reporting the transaction. Italian government circles confirmed on Sunday that an attempt will be made to organize a meeting with Reynders to speed up the process, Reuters reported.
The Commission would pay particular attention to the situation at the airports of Rome and Milan, in order to avoid a monopoly position. Lufthansa currently brings passengers from the rich north of Italy to its hub in Munich via Air Dolomiti flights.
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2023-09-10 23:06:00
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