Lufthansa gets EU nod for ITA deal in win for Italy’s Meloni

Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s E325m investment in Italy’s ITA Airways won approval from the European Union, allowing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to offload responsibility for an airline whose predecessor has been a drain on state resources for decades. The EC said on Wednesday it approved the planned deal after accepting a slate of concessions aimed at preserving fair competition on key routes out of Italy to the rest of Europe and North America. “We needed to prevent that passengers end up paying more or end up with fewer and lower quality air transport services,” the EU’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement, adding that proposed remedies address the commission’s competition worries. The approval from EU watchdogs puts an end to months of uncertainty over the future of the deal — in which Lufthansa will initially buy 41% of the successor to failed flagship Alitalia from the Italian state, with an option to acquire the rest later. Lufthansa shares rose on the decision, which was swiftly welcome by Italy’s government. “As an Italian citizen, and as a minister, what makes me happiest is that Italian taxpayers won’t have to put additional billions to cover for ITA losses,” Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said during a press conference in Rome Wednesday.<br/>