I’ll explain why Ita wobbles
What happens to Ita (post Alitalia) between the European Commission, the Italian government and the commissioners of Alitalia. The article by Ugo Arrigo for Il Sussidiario
The protagonists are the European Commissioner for Competition Vestager, then in second position the Italian Government in the person of the Minister responsible for the procedure, therefore the owner of Economic Development, then in third position the commissioners of Alitalia and in fourth and last position the leaders of the new company ITA, eager to reach the take-off milestone of the newco. The baton is instead given by the decision of the European Union on the admitted characteristics of the new company, its perimeter, what it can acquire from the commissioners by direct negotiation or through tender and what it will not be able to acquire at all. If we were in a film this would be the script, without which the director, studio technicians and actors would not know what to do.
We know for sure that the screenplay was written in full or by Commissioner Vestager or at least by her offices, after having marginalized the Italian ministers who would have tried in vain to make suggestions. But is it available in a formal way? We do not know for sure, but it seems not. It takes the form of a decision of the European Commission which, once definitively established, is officially sent to the Government concerned and after some time, purified at the request of the parties of any sensitive information, also published on the Commission's website. At the moment this publication does not exist and whether it was issued and formally sent to the Italian government is not known, but it is very likely not.
On July 15, a brief press release from the Ministry of Economy said: “ The discussion with the European Commission on the establishment of Italia Trasporti Aereo (ITA) has ended positively. The new company will be fully operational starting next October 15, the date on which the first flights are scheduled to take off. The discussion with the European Commission made it possible to reach a constructive and balanced solution, which guarantees the discontinuity necessary for compliance with European legislation. The positive outcome of the dialogue with the offices of the Commission allows the procedures relating to the capital increase of ITA to be launched and creates the conditions for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the transfer of certain activities from Alitalia to ITA ". However, the fact that an agreement has been reached does not imply that the formal decision has already been written and sent to its addressees. It is more likely that the Brussels offices still have to draft the detailed decision, starting with the key points that have been agreed with the Italian government.
That everything was not completely defined also seems to be confirmed by what the important site of Brussels Politico.eu wrote on the day of the announced agreement: "" The Commission takes note of today's announcement by Italy ", said a spokesman in Brussels in a note, underlining that "no formal decisions have been taken at this stage" on the restructuring of Alitalia or on other pending investigations on state aid ".
In summary, on the handover from Alitalia to ITA, the cinematographic subject seems to be there, but the screenplay is not yet. And without that, the other relay athletes can do very little. There is no witness on the track.
The Government had actually moved forward, writing in Article 6 of Law Decree no. 99 of 30 June last, the rules governing the subsequent steps, however subject to the expected decision of the EU. They read, for example, that: " The (transfer) procedures in progress are revoked … which are incompatible with the plan (of ITA) integrated or modified taking into account the decision of the Commission ." And furthermore: “ The Extraordinary Commissioners are responsible for modifying the program of the procedure for (transfer of the assets of the) Extraordinary Administration in order to adapt it to the decision of the European Commission “. Finally: " The program (for the sale of assets) can be authorized, insofar as it is consistent with the plan (of ITA) , regardless of the reliability checks of the industrial plan provided for (by the regulations in force regarding the crisis of large companies) which may not be carried out by the extraordinary administration as absorbed by the positive evaluation by the European Commission of the plan itself ".
These are all provisions that say what ITA will be able to achieve and what the commissioners will have to do in favor of ITA, but only after the EU Commission has established its decision. And this decision is necessarily a formal measure that must be issued, certainly not a whatsapp between Brussels and Rome or a press release from one of the players in the field.
But the problem is that without the formal decision of Brussels from a legal point of view it is hardly imaginable that the procedure can make significant progress, at least take it without leaving room for possible disputes. The last athletes of the relay therefore remain on the field in impatient waiting. Meanwhile, time passes and it seems very difficult that the announced times can be respected. And if on October 15 the new ITA is still unable to fly and the old Alitalia is no longer able to fly, or if it has no passengers booked because it has not been allowed to sell tickets, what happens? Do the planes stay on the ground? Passengers would like to know this and Alitalia workers believe even more.
(Extract from an article published in Il Sussidiario; here the complete version)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/ita-alitalia-ue/ on Mon, 16 Aug 2021 05:50:20 +0000.