Italy seeks private Italian hands for Alitalia
Posted: 11 May 2008 0006 hrs

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ROME : Italy is seeking solutions for Alitalia that would keep it both Italian and privately owned, the government said Saturday, responding to EU warnings against renationalising the ailing air carrier.

Economics Minister Giulio Tremonti said the new government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was "seeking a solution which is Italian and fundamentally private".

He was speaking in an interview to be aired Sunday on RAI television, but made available in advance by the domestic ANSA news agency.

Tremonti said Berlusconi's new government was committed to attracting Italian investors to Alitalia.

"A number of business people have already shown interest," he said. "The risk of the company falling into the hands of competitors in the tourist trade has been averted."

This was a reference to Air France-KLM withdrawing an offer to buy Alitalia, which is 49.9 percent owned by the Italian government.

"It's one thing to run an election campaign and another to run the country," said Tremonti, adding however that "legal procedures will be followed for Alitalia."

During his election campaign, Berlusconi repeatedly claimed that an all-Italian consortium was in the offing to rescue Alitalia.

The European Commission in Brussels has warned Italy against re-nationalising Alitalia, after Berlusconi floated the idea of nationalisation instead of selling off the state's shareholding in it.

Due to an earlier government bail-out, Alitalia -- which is losing about one million euros (1.6 million dollars) a day -- cannot under EU rules get state aid for another three years.

- AFP /ls