The European Commission has opened an investigation into the EUR400 million euro (USD443 million) state loan that Italy approved for its struggling flag carrier Alitalia (AZA, Rome Fiumicino), to determine whether it constitutes illegal state aid, it revealed in a statement on February 28.
A majority in Italy’s Senate voted for the loan - which is designed to keep the carrier afloat until mid-2020 - on January 29, following approvals in December by the government and the Chamber of Deputies.
The decree includes a clause demanding repayment of the loan, with interest, “within six months of disbursement”. It also says that the procedure enabling the disposal of Alitalia’s assets must be carried out by May 31, 2020.
The loan comes on top of a EUR900 million (USD1.1 billion at the time) bridge loan Rome gave to Alitalia in 2017, which has been under European Commission investigation since April 2018.
“The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether Italy’s €400 million loan granted to Alitalia constitutes state aid and whether it complies with the rules on state aid to companies in difficulty,” the statement said.
This is “a standard step” to provide Italy and other interested parties with an opportunity to provide their views, it added, and “does not prejudge in any way the outcome of the investigation”.
In the European Union, interested parties can trigger state aid investigations by lodging complaints with the European Commission. In this case, the commission said it had received “a number of complaints” alleging that the loan constituted state aid and was not compatible with EU rules.
The commission is working closely with the Italian authorities on the matter, it said.
