EU questions Alitalia nationalisation plan

Italy will have to review its plan to nationalise and relaunch Alitalia (AZ, Rome Fiumicino) as a leaner airline if the European Commission decides not to approve it, the business daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager reportedly told the Italian government that the relaunch as it stands is not acceptable and requested an alternative plan. The European Commission would typically oppose such state intervention. Still, given the unprecedented crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that Alitalia is running out of cash, Rome had assumed it would be unlikely Brussels would complain. But Vestager made it clear that the commission was still investigating two state loans of EUR900 million euros (USD1.1 billion when it was provided in 2017) and EUR400 million (USD443 million) provided at the start of this year. The Italian government has not yet decided what to do, the newspaper said, as coming up with a new structure for the relaunch could lead to a delay of several months. The next 15 days will be decisive for the take-off of the NewCo, the country’s transport minister, Paola De Micheli, said on June 6, according to Il Sole 24 Ore, and the start of the new company’s construction phase is “imminent.” “There is a path foreseen by the relaunch decree [published on March 16] that will take place according to the provisions of the law,” she said, adding that this procedure was likely to take 40 to 50 days. “We are working, and we will decide together very soon.” The reworked airline will have “over 100 planes”, and the human resources will be proportionate to this size, De Micheli stressed. Together with the Italian civil aviation authority (Ente Nazionale per l’Aviazione Civile – ENAC), the ministry is also working simultaneously on a new strategic plan for Italy’s airports, something that will take “a few months” to achieve, she said. Also on June 6, Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int’l) CEO Michael O’Leary told the Italian daily La Repubblica that his company was “ready to file a lawsuit in Brussels for unlawful state aid to save Alitalia.” The Italian government is deploying “North Korea-style rules” to save its flag carrier, he protested, adding that he was trying to meet with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to discuss what he called the “protectionist attitude” in Italy.