Alitalia EUR 900 million rescue loan – disclosure of expenditure and timeframe for Italy’s second investigation into the undisclosed EUR 400 million loan

Subject: Alitalia EUR 900 million rescue loan – disclosure of expenditure and timeframe for Italy’s second investigation into the undisclosed EUR 400 million loan

Italy risks facing a second investigation into the EUR 400 million loan it did not disclose to the Commisison 1 .

The Commissioner for Competition has confirmed that she is in close contact with the Italian government and warns that ‘time is not infinite and the time will come when we must reach a conclusion’ 2 .

Without serious restructuring and cuts, private investors will not inject funds and, as Alitalia has already squandered the EUR 900 million, it is likely to waste the new EUR 400 million only to request another loan next summer.

1. Can the Commission provide information on how the EUR 900 million rescue aid given over a year ago has been used?

2. Can the Commission confirm it has not been used for the following investments: new Alitalia staff uniforms (scrapping the former 18-month-old Etihad uniforms); the new business lounge ‘Casa Italia’ in Rome Fiumicino; leasing aircraft (at completely out-of-market prices); permanent contracts for Alitalia managers and remuneration level; use of landing slots by Etihad in London; new flight routes launched; and the new Salvatore Ferragamo amenity kits in business class? Such investments would constitute a breach of paragraph 55(e) of the Commission guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring 3 . Even Giulia Lupo, the Italian senator in charge of the Alitalia case, seems to agree 4 .


https://www.ilmessaggero.it/economia/news/alitalia_vestager_ventila_rischio_seconda_indagine_ue_su _prestito_ponte-4936296.html

2 https://www.eunews.it/2019/12/19/alitalia-vestager-litalia-rischia-seconda-indagine-prestito-400-

milioni/124523

3 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014XC0731(01)&from=EN.

4 https://twitter.com/GiuliaLupo2/status/1204702020323749889?s=20

Answer given by Executive Vice-President Vestager on behalf of the European Commission (13 March 2020)

In the course of the ongoing formal investigation into the EUR 600 million and EUR 300 million loans granted to Alitalia in May 2017 and October 2017, the Commission has asked the Italian authorities to provide clarifications on a number of the issues raised in the Honourable Member’s question. However, the Commission is not in a position to disclose the information provided by Italy.

If the loans are deemed to constitute state aid to an undertaking in difficulty, the Commission will carry out an assessment of their compatibility under the Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines (5). The compatibility criteria set out therein are cumulative, meaning that should the loans fail to satisfy one of those criteria, they would not be deemed as compatible under those guidelines.

Alitalia’s extraordinary administration has published information about Alitalia’s financial position on its website (6).

⋅1∙ https://www.ilmessaggero.it/economia/news/alitalia_vestager_ventila_rischio_seconda_indagine_ue_su_prestito_ponte-4936296.html

⋅2∙ https://www.eunews.it/2019/12/19/alitalia-vestager-litalia-rischia-seconda-indagine-prestito-400-milioni/124523

⋅3∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014XC0731(01)&from=EN.

⋅4∙ https://twitter.com/GiuliaLupo2/status/1204702020323749889?s=20

⋅5∙ Communication from the Commission — Guidelines on state aid for rescuing and restructuring non-financial undertakings in difficulty, OJ C 249, 31.7.2014, p. 1‐


⋅6∙ http://www.amministrazionestraordinariaalitaliasai.com/