ITA – Lufthansa: Italian Government Intervenes To Facilitate Agreement

The Italian government has intervened to try to remove the last obstacles to the acquisition of ITA Airways by the German company Lufthansa.

For this purpose, the Italian Council of Ministers approved a regulation clarifying that the new company will not be a continuation of the former national airline Alitalia. This confirms what the European Commission has already said and should put an end to claims by former employees to “validate” the agreement signed with Lufthansa.

The communiqué of the Italian Council of Ministers states: “Whereas a legal conflict has arisen as to whether there is a corporate gap between Alitalia-Società Aerea Italiana and ITA-Italia Trasporto Aereo, and considering that this uncertainty may have negative consequences both for the legal relationship and for public finances, it was considered necessary to adopt an interpretative rule which, in accordance with decisions of the European Commission, excludes the possibility of continuity between the two companies in the transition from Alitalia to ITA.”

Brussels stated its views in June, proposing that local authorities treat ITA and Alitalia as two completely different companies. This factor is likely to become discriminative to the conclusion of the contract, which provides for Lufthansa’s purchase of 41% of the Italian flag carrier and a subsequent recapitalization of 325 million euros. But the agreements, as the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera explains, also provide for the possibility of withdrawing from the deal if labor disputes call it into question.