Tuesday April 29, 08:02 PM
Italy's Berlusconi mulls nationalising loss-making Alitalia
 |
MILAN (AFP) - Prime minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday floated the idea of nationalising Alitalia (Milan: AZA.MI - news) instead of selling off the state's 49.9 percent share in the loss-making airline, media reports said.
"We are going ahead (looking for) stakeholders ... (but) we may decide for the state to acquire Alitalia through the Ferrovie dello Stato," he told reporters outside parliament, referring to the national railway.
Berlusconi, who made the fate of Alitalia a central campaign issue ahead of the elections he won two weeks ago, also took a swipe at the European Commission, which has asked for details of a planned state loan of 300 million euros (480 million dollars) to the airline.
"I have acted with respect for the EU," he said, adding that he would consider nationalising Alitalia if the Commission, Europe's top competition watchdog, "starts harassing" him.
"We need a Europe that helps us and not one that makes things more difficult," he said.
But Berlusconi's ally, Umberto Bossi, of the Northern League cast doubt on the viability of the railway rescuing the airline.
The railway posted a loss of 409 million euros last year.
A European Commission spokesman, reacting Tuesday to Berlusconi's remarks, said: "Whether a member state wants to privatise or nationalise a company is none of our business. However, whether in the process of privatisation or nationalisation there is a transfer of state resources to that company -- that is clearly covered by the state aid rules in the (EU) treaty."
The Italian government last came to Alitalia's rescue in 2001. Under EU rules, the airline is not allowed state aid again until 2011.
Last week European Transport Commission Jacques Barrot said: "I'm afraid it is going to be hard for the Italian government to prove that this is not public aid."
The business daily Il Sole (Milan: S24.MI - news) -24 Ore on Tuesday reported that about 20 Italian business leaders had said they were prepared to invest a combined one billion euros in the airline.
"We have a number of entrepreneurs that goes well beyond the needed capital," Berlusconi was quoted as saying.
Marco Tronchetti Provera, the boss of the Pirelli (Milan: PC.MI - news) tyre giant, and Mario Moretti Polegato, chairman of Geox Shoes, are among potential investors as long as they are presented with a "clear and transparent plan," the daily reported.
Air France (Paris: FR0000031122 - news) -KLM withdrew a promising takeover offer this month after resistance from Alitalia's unions.
Alitalia is losing about one million euros (1.6 million dollars) a day and had about 170 million euros in the bank at the end of March.
The European Commission has given Rome two weeks to provide further details surrounding the bridging loan, while Berlusconi said last Wednesday that Italian investors would present a rescue package within the next five weeks.
|
|
|
Send Article by Email
Send Article by IM
Blog This with Y! 360
Printable View
