Brussels, 17/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - The Commission will give its decision on Wednesday on what action is to be taken on the stance of the Italian government in the proposed merger of Autostrade and Spanish company Abertis, Nellie Kroes' spokesman said on Tuesday. While the transaction, which was authorised at the end of September, has not created any problems from the point of view of competition, the Commission has been continuing its consideration of the explanations provided by Italian authorities of their initial vetoing of the proposal (see EUROPE 9272). The Commission is likely to decide that by blocking the merger, Rome infringed Article 21 of the Treaty, which gives the Commission exclusive authority on Community mergers. In this event, it will send the Italian authorities a preliminary analysis, giving them ten days to respond, before its final decision. There is no direct between this “competition” element of the affair and possible infringement proceedings within the framework of internal market rules, Commissioner McCreevy's spokesman pointed out. Mr McCreevy will make his decision known within the next few weeks.
Believing the proposed merger to be against a 1997 law, the Italian government has hitherto expressed reservations about Autostrade's transfer of its motorway concessions. On Tuesday, the Italian firm announced that the Italian government was ready to give up its idea of limiting construction companies' voting rights in the firm to 5%. Through the merger, a Spanish construction group, ACS, a shareholder in Abertis, would have 12.5% of the capital, without any specific restriction. (ab)