11/07/2024 (Agence Europe) – Questioned on Thursday 11 July about the European Commission’s decision, announced on 3 July, to accept, subject to conditions, the acquisition of the Italian airline ITA by Lufthansa and the Italian Ministry of the Economy and Finance (see EUROPE 13445/14), the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, denied that the decision had been politically motivated. She pointed out that the European Commission’s responsibility when examining proposed mergers was to ensure that consumers still had a choice in the market in question after a merger. Ms Vestager also felt that the Commission should always include in its considerations the fact that the merits of its decisions could be challenged before the Court of Justice of the EU, and that each case was therefore not necessarily over when the decision was handed down. (EV)