The European Commission (EC) on
Friday warned Italian authorities to be "vigilant" over the
imminent tie-up between the struggling Italian flagship carrier
Alitalia and UAE's Etihad Airways, European sources told ANSA.
The EC told Italian authorities to safeguard EU rules on
ownership and control of European companies, and investments
involving third country carriers.
The warning comes on the day the Abu Dhabi-based carrier was
expected to make a formal offer to buy as much as a 40% stake in
its Italian counterpart, the equivalent of a much-needed capital
injection of 350 million euros.
The Gulf carrier is vying to broaden its network in Europe.
Etihad has been expanding aggressively into Europe and
Alitalia would give it a further foothold in a lucrative market.
After buying 29% of Air Berlin, Germany's second-largest
airline, in 2011, Etihad has taken stakes in carriers across the
world, including Air Serbia, Aer Lingus, Darwin Airlines, Virgin
Australia, Jet Airways and Air Seychelles.
EU sources told ANSA Friday that the EC was opening a
probe into Etihad's investments in Europe.
On Thursday, Alitalia CEO Gabriele Del Torchio said the due
diligence phase with Etihad was almost complete.
A deal between the two carriers should go through this
week, Italian Transport minister Maurizio Lupi told the Lower
House on Wednesday.
But the arrangement, as well as other plans to bring
Alitalia back to profitability, have been controversial.
In early February, German airline giant Lufthansa called on
the EC to halt Etihad's planned investment in Alitalia, alleging
the use of State aid in disguise to break competition rules.
In October, Alitalia's board approved a 500-million-euro
budget package engineered by the previous Italian government
that included the 300-million-euro capital increase and 200
million euros in new lines of credit.
This also included a controversial 74-million euro
investment by Italy's state-owned post office Poste Italiane.
International Airlines Group, which owns Spanish carrier
Iberia as well as British Airways, also has urged the EC to
intervene to suspend what it has said was "flagrant State aid".
Italy denied the allegations but the EC asked for more
information about the rescue package - in particular, the
controversial cash injection from Italy's post office.
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