The proposed deal involving the
purchase by Lufthansa of a 41% stake in Italy's
ITA Airways against an investment of 325 million euros over the
2023-2024 period is a complicated case but not unlike other
mergers in the past, EU Commission Vice-President Margrethe
Vestager said on Monday.
"We are here to make sure that there is still competition in
the market where companies merge," said Vestager, who has
specific responsibility for competition.
"It is up to the companies to figure out the right balance
between the problems that need to be solved and what justifies
the operation, it is up to the companies to decide that," she
added, replying to a question on rumours that conditions are so
stringent that the German carrier might be forced to abandon the
deal.
"As I see it, we have quite good open discussions with the
companies in question," continued Vestager.
"It is a complicated merger, but it is a merger like other cases
we have seen," she concluded.
In January the European Commission launched an in-depth
investigation into the proposed deal between Lufthansa and ITA
Airways, taking to phase two the antitrust examination of the
transaction that began in late November after the Italian
Treasury, currently the sole owner of the company that replaced
the loss-making former flag-carrier Alitalia in 2021, and the
German carrier formally notified Brussels of the plans.
In light of the data gathered during preliminary investigations,
the EC said "the transaction could reduce competition" on
"several short- and long-haul routes".
In particular, it considers that the agreement between ITA
Airways and Lufthansa,
signed in Rome last May, "could create or strengthen the
dominant position" of the new company "at Milan-Linate airport"
and so make it "more difficult for rivals to provide passenger
air transport services to and from" the Milan hub.
The EU executive has until June 6, 2024 to take a final
decision.
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