Why Salvini hits Brussels for Ita-Lufthansa
According to Salvini, the European Commission's objections to the acquisition of Ita from Lufthansa are "yet another Euromadness". The minister does not spare attacks on von der Leyen and Macron. Meanwhile, is Air France gloating?
“It's yet another Euromadness. After lost years, the government wants to secure thousands of workers, the right to fly of Italians, the arrival of tourists in Italy and Brussels objects". Matteo Salvini, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, said this in reference to the European Commission's objections to the acquisition of ITA Airways by the German airline Lufthansa; today ITA is entirely controlled by the Ministry of Economy.
The Commission thinks that the operation could reduce competition especially on long-haul air routes, the most profitable ones, as well as strengthening ITA's dominant position at Milan-Linate airport.
SALVINI'S WORDS AGAINST THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
According to Salvini, there are "economic interests" behind the European reserves. He then added – he was speaking at the inauguration event of the new Bergamo motorway junction – that “if Brussels hinders or tries to undermine the agreement between ITA and Lufthansa it will do damage to the workers, to Italy, to the Europe. It would not surprise me if this wretched Commission ended these five years with another senseless act. However, we are going ahead because we are convinced of the validity of the operation."
SALVINI AGAINST VON DER LEYEN AND MACRON
In recent days Salvini also declared that the League and its voters "will never choose a second mandate with von der Leyen and the socialists" at the helm of the European Commission. He then attacked Emmanuel Macron, who raised the possibility of sending soldiers to Ukraine to counter Russian aggression, claiming that the French president "with his words represents a danger for our country and for this continent. The problems are not mum and dad, but warmongers like Macron. If the choice”, added Salvini, “is between Macron's warmongering Europe and Le Pen's peaceful Europe, I will stay with Le Pen's Europe all my life”.
Marine Le Pen is quite close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and in 2014 her party – now Rassemblement National, previously called Front National – received a loan of 9 million euros from a Russian bank to finance the election campaign. In 2017 Salvini signed a collaboration agreement between the League and United Russia, Putin's party.
ALSO MELONI CRITICIZES BRUSSELS FOR THE ITA-LUFTHANSA DEAL
Last summer, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attacked the European Commission for the ITA-Lufthansa operation using tones similar to those of Salvini. “Something objectively curious is happening,” he said , “that is, the same European Commission that for years has asked us to find a solution to the ITA problem, when we find a solution to the problem blocks it and therefore we are no longer understanding. And we would like an answer."
THE FRENCH TRACK
The Commission's objections to the acquisition of ITA from Lufthansa were probably welcomed positively by the French flag carrier Air France which – as Cristiano Spazzali, an air transport expert, had already explained in a long analysis for Startmag – would see its business operations damaged 'business from the operation.
“The French 'cousins' are doing everything they can to ruin the wedding between Ita and Lufthansa,” wrote the analyst. “It is easy to understand how in this scenario the EU Commission, which is the holder of strong powers and political connections, found itself in extreme difficulty in giving the green light to a merger which would for the first time put the French in a corner, in 'scope of European aeronautical activities”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/salvini-critiche-commissione-europea-ita-lufthansa/ on Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:47:23 +0000.