Brussels, 29/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has given Poland more time in which to reply to the letter the Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, sent the country in connection with the affair involving the merger of the Italian bank Unicredito and German bank Bayerische Hypo und Vereinsbank AG (HBV). The Polish government has until next “Monday”, 3 April to explain itself, indicated Ms Kroes' spokesperson on 29 March, with regard to fears about the possible repercussions that this merger could have on competition in the Polish market (EUROPE 9147).
Poland has exploited a non-competition clause signed in 1999 with Unicredito, preventing it from investing in lending institutions other than its Polish subsidiary Pekao. The buyout of HBV by Unicredito would lead to the merger of Pekao and BPH, a bank active on the Polish market and controlled by HBV. The Polish authorities consider that this operation contravenes the non-competition clause. If the Commission does not accept this argument, it may stop Poland using it for preventing the Unicredito and HBV merger going ahead. In 1999, the Commission exerted pressure to prevent Portugal's attempts to block a merger between the Champalimaud and BSCH banks (EUROPE 7518).
In this affair, Poland is subject to an infringement procedure for violation of internal market rules on free movement of capital. At the beginning of March, it lodged a complaint at the EU Court of Justice against the Commission's decision approving the merger (EUROPE 9126).