Brussels, 30/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - On the very day that the deadline set by the European Commission to do so expires, the Italian authorities have provided information required on the 300 million euros loaned by the Italian Treasury to the airline Alitalia. The Commission fears that this emergency loan, granted on 22 April, was not made under "normal" market conditions, therefore constituting illegal State aid (EUROPE at present 650). In a short press release, the Commission confirms that it "will now analyse the contents of this response. It will make no further comment on this matter until that analysis is complete".
The Commission will now determine whether the conditions of the loan would have been acceptable for an investor active in the context of the market. It is certainly true that private investors are not queueing up to advance funds to the former national operator, which is losing a million euros a day. However, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi explained that the funding should be sufficient to guarantee "the company's continuity for the next 12 months", an adequate period of time to find a buyer, he hopes. The Prime Minister was speaking before the press at the technical presentation of the decree laying down the conditions of the loan, held on Friday. Amongst other things, the injection of funds may be converted into share capital in order to avoid bankruptcy. The Minister for the Economy, Giulio Tremonti, added that the government was planning to hold talks with the Milan bank Intesa Sanpaolo SpA next Tuesday, to assess the best option out of the "one or two interested buyers". Friday's public declarations did not comment on the compatibility of the loan with European rules on State aid. (C.D.)