Italy violated European law at the end of 2019 with a loan of 400 million euros to the struggling airline Alitalia. As the EU Commission announced on Monday, the loan violated EU state aid rules for companies in difficulty. Italy must therefore reclaim the money plus interest from Alitalia, wrote Brussels.

However, this should not happen - the traditional airline no longer exists. It was replaced by the newly founded Ita Airways in autumn 2021. And because Alitalia is not considered Alitalia's economic successor, the millions cannot be reclaimed from Ita; the EU Commission itself had already determined this in 2021. Lufthansa is currently negotiating a partial takeover of Ita Airways.

Alitalia had made big losses for years and received millions in loans from the Italian state three times in 2017 and 2019. The two loans from 2017 totaling 900 million euros were also unlawful, the EU Commission ruled at the end of 2021. Then as now, the competition authorities came to the conclusion that Italy had not acted like a private investor and to the extent necessary from the repayment the funds had run out. Rather, it was about maintaining flight operations - Alitalia therefore had an illegal competitive advantage.

"We expected these conclusions from the EU Commission," said Italian Economy and Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti on Monday. At the same time, however, he was satisfied with Brussels' assessment that Alitalia's successor Ita could not be prosecuted for its misconduct in granting the bridging loan. "We are right and we will continue on this path," he said of Ita Airways' development and Rome's privatization plans.