• Alitalia, the government: "The consortium is no longer there, we have no market solution"
  • Stalemate on Alitalia, the ball returns to the government

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28 November 2019The Minister of Economic Development, Stefano Patuanelli, opens up to a possible nationalization of Alitalia and the trade unions welcome the proposal. "Bring the project forward", he hastens to support the national secretary of the Filt Cgil Fabrizio Cuscito. Meanwhile in the evening a meeting between Alitalia's extraordinary commissioners and the minister is held at the Mise to take stock of the situation of the former national airline, as reported by sources close to the dossier, after the market solution seems to have been definitively missed.

The three commissioners, according to rumors, would have asked for the possibility of making a last attempt with the consortium that sees Fs together with Delta and Atlantia. Then, through a new commissioning mechanism, a plan B could take shape, in which Lufthansa could gain weight and in which the Toto group could also appear, which in the past had already expressed interest but which had then been set aside during the selection of the short final list.

Patuanelli adds the hypothesis of nationalization to the list of solutions that the government will be able to take into consideration in order to carry out the rescue of the company, after the dissolution of the consortium of private investors that it saw engaged in negotiations Fs, Atlantia and the US partner Delta, with the Germans of Lufthansa eventually to the window. "A solution will be found", assured the minister, speaking on Radio Capital and, urged on what could be, he added that "the nationalization of Alitalia should not necessarily be seen as a negative event".

In the attic, in the absence of new twists, the hypothesis of putting together new parties while the hypothesis of selling the company "in pieces" cannot be completely canceled. Although on this scenario the unions are ready to barricade and Patuanelli himself brakes. "There are no market solutions because Atlantia has decided to exit the consortium the day before the deadline. In this sense the market has failed. On the future of Alitalia we are evaluating different hypotheses at the government level, there is not one participant in the Consortium considering that Atlantia who had expressed their intention to take over 30% of the newco withdrew, but the 'stew' is not a hypothesis on the government table, "says Patuanelli shortly.

And here the possibility of the shareholder state coming back with force. A hypothesis that the CGIL likes. "Patuanelli proposes nationalization as a possible scenario, now carry out his project". Fabrizio Cuscito of Filt says, adding that "as we have always maintained, a participation of the State can only be a positive element, having ascertained that, to date, market solutions have not yielded results and that state participation already takes place in most major European airlines ". Instead, the CISL Fit is asking for solutions for the entire air transport sector. "It rightly holds the Alitalia question under control, but it must be remembered that it is the whole Italian air transport sector that is in crisis and in need of urgent action," he said in a statement.