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STRASBOURG,
FRANCE—Antonio
Tajani, an Italian who is the European Union’s (EU) new
transport chief, pledged to act forcefully in leading an
EU probe into Italy’s rescue loan for unprofitable flag
carrier Alitalia SpA.
Tajani’s
promise comes less than a week after the European
Commission began an in-depth inquiry into the legality
of Italy’s €300-million ($464 million) loan to Alitalia.
The commission, the 27-nation EU’s regulatory arm, faces
demands from other airlines such as British Airways Plc.
to reject the aid as being in breach of European rules
on fair competition.
“I will
be under no national influence,” Tajani, an ally of
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, told a
European Parliament confirmation hearing Monday evening
in Strasbourg, France. “I will make sure the EU treaties
are respected.”
Making
the 54-year-old Tajani European transport commissioner
tests the credibility of EU regulators because of the
top-level political efforts in Italy to save Alitalia
and the rarity of national carriers in
Europe going
bankrupt. The EU Parliament is due to vote on Tajani’s
new role tomorrow.
Former
Italian Premier Romano Prodi approved the financial
lifeline to Alitalia in April after Air France-KLM
Group,
Europe’s biggest airline, pulled out of a takeover bid. Berlusconi
has pledged to put together a group of Italian investors
to buy Alitalia, in which
Italy
has a 49.9-percent stake.
Commission President Jose Barroso assigned Tajani to the
transport post as part of a shuffle under which France’s
Jacques Barrot took over the job of justice commissioner
vacated by Franco Frattini when he returned to Italy to
become foreign minister in Berlusconi’s government. Each
EU government appoints one person to the commission, the
president of which is responsible for assigning the
jobs.
“I will
do my very best,” said Tajani, who has worked as a
member of the EU Parliament, a journalist and an
air-traffic controller. “I will act independently.”
In early
May, when he was still transport commissioner, Barrot
stepped up threats to reject the loan to Alitalia.
Barrot said the financial weakness of the carrier, which
that month reported a wider first-quarter pretax loss of
€215 million, raised doubts about the loan’s
compatibility with EU rules meant to prevent distortions
of competition as a result of government cash injections
in companies.
EU rules
require
Italy
to prove its loan was offered on commercial terms to win
approval from the commission, which has waged a
years-long battle against the Greek government over aid
to Olympic Airlines SA and its predecessor, Olympic
Airways.
Tajani
pledged to treat all state-aid cases in a neutral way,
saying “there are no differences between Alitalia,
Olympic Airlines and any other airline” when it comes to
applying EU law.
Tajani
said he has no economic interest in the carrier and
European commissioners must regularly take decisions
affecting their home country.
Italian
Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti has defended the
government’s steps to keep Alitalia in business, arguing
that aid is necessary to achieve the goal of an eventual
sale. The government and the company have named bank
Intesa Sanpaolo SpA to advise on the sale.
In 2001,
the commission hastened the bankruptcy of Belgium’s
Sabena SA—the first collapse of a major European
airline—by restricting government subsidies. That
decision was led by the late Loyola de Palacio, a
Spaniard who was EU transport commissioner at the time.
Alitalia
won EU permission to receive Italian government aid in
2001, making the carrier ineligible for further handouts
until 2011 under European rules. The commission approved
a recapitalization plan for the airline in 2005 after
concluding that there was no state aid involved.
The
Brussels-based commission is due to complete its current
probe within 18 months. (Bloomberg) |
