The Italian government violated EU State aid rules by giving a 400-million-euro ($430-million) state loan to the Alitalia airline in 2019, therefore this sum plus interest should be recovered to the budget from the company, the European Commission (EC) said on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th March, 2023) The Italian government violated EU State aid rules by giving a 400-million-euro ($430-million) state loan to the Alitalia airline in 2019, therefore this sum plus interest should be recovered to the budget from the company, the European Commission (EC) said on Monday.
"Today the Commission has concluded that no private investor would have granted the loan to the company at the time and that the loan gave Alitalia an unfair economic advantage vis-à-vis its competitors on national, European and world routes, which amounted to incompatible State aid. Italy must now recover the illegal State aid amounting to ��400 million plus interest from Alitalia," the European Commission said in a statement.
When issuing the loan, the Italian authorities did not assess Alitalia's ability to return the funds with interest, but only wanted to ensure uninterrupted service for the airline's domestic and international flights, the statement read. Besides, the EC argued that this loan could not be considered rescue aid, since this support measure had already been provided in 2017, and considered it to be "in breach of the one-time-last-time requirement under the Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines."
Later in the day, Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said the European Commission's verdict had been expected and predictable, adding that the fact this ruling did not include the state-owned ITA airlines, which bought Alitalia's entire operation, had been proof that the government was doing the right thing.
In September 2021, the EC also found that two 900-million-euro loans provided to Alitalia in 2017 violated the state aid regulation.
Alitalia, founded in 1946, was the largest air carrier in Italy and the fifth largest in the EU. In October 2021, it was declared bankrupt and closed.
