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Home arrow In Brief arrow Tajani plays cards-up on 3 Airlines' privatisation and slots' guarantees for 2010+

Tajani plays cards-up on 3 Airlines' privatisation and slots' guarantees for 2010+

Written by ACM
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
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Tajani clears Alitalia and Olympic privatisation, eyes Austrian airlines, and guarantees slots for 2010+
    


    EU cleared out the privatisation of AlItalia and Olympic airlines, in Italy and Greece respectively, and started contacts about Austrian Airlines, but "does not know yet who might come next", said to "EuroFora" EU Commission's vice President for Transports, Antonio Tajani.

    Speaking to Journalists in Strasbourg, Tajani stressed that, while monitoring the respect of EU Law on State aides and Competition, EU also wanted to help Airline Companies' sustainability and "defend Workers" at this period of Economic Crisis.

    That's why, at the same time, EU Commission decided to ask to firmly keep the Airport and flight Slots guaranteed to each Airline company for 2010, at their 2009 level, regardless if they use them all, or not.

    The measure is intended to help Airline Companies to adapt to the Crisis, fex. by temporarily limiting their activities, without losing their slots for next year. Normally we expect that the crisis would end in 2010. But if it continues towards 2011 we shall adapt and probably prolonge further the measure, he ensured.

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    Meanwhile, AlItalia's sale for 1,052 million € to CAI was assessed by EU Experts as corresponding to "a fair market value", even if "in the lower margin". But AirFrance/KLM bought a 25% share from CAI, for 323 million €, some 10% Higher than expected, probably because of market changes which occured in the meantime, (fex. synergies and less social tensions, Lufthansa competition, etc). In conclusion, the Italian Government took Legal measures to recover a previous 300 million € loan of State aid, earlier declared illegal by the EU, and this allowed  EU Commission to give now its green light.   

 After an initial bid for Olympic on September 2008, when the Global Economic Crisis started, did not yield offers at its real value, the Greek Government decided to make a direct sale, in order to get a higher price in a faster way, avoiding the interruption of isolated islands' airlinks. Olympic was bought in 3 parts of 44,8 (Suissport etc. for ground segments), 45,7 (Marfin etc. for maintenance management, etc) and 16,7 millions, totalling some 107,2 millions €. The new company will be 100% private, and slimer that the old one.    

The EU Commission's vice-President praised the "good cooperation" he had with both the Greek and Italian Governments.     

Questioned by "EuroFora" which other EU Countries are coming next, Tajani said that he "didn't know yet who" might be on the privasation's pipeline.. But he announced that he had recently started contacts also with the Austrian government, initially for a loan, and may be later for the sale of Austrian Airlines.

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(Opinion).

 In Democracy, the forthcoming choices for EU's Top Jobs, as the New EU Parliament's President, new EU Commission's President (+ probably EU Council's President, EU Foreign Minister, etc) should be made according to EU Citizens' Votes in June 7, 2009 European Elections, and main EU Governments' strategic policies.

At the heart of the biggest EU Countries, in France and Germany, EU Citizens clearly voted for a renovated, non-technocratic but Political Europe based on Values, declared explicitly incompatible with Turkey's controversial EU bid.

This main choice was also supported in several other small or medium EU Countries, such as Austria (cf. promise of a Referendum), Spain (cf. EPP program's reservations vis a vis Enlargment), etc., while EPP Parties won also in Poland, Hungary, Cyprus, etc.

In other Countries, whenever Governing coalitions didn't make these choices or eluded them, continuing to let a Turkish lobby push for its entry into the EU, they paid a high price, and risked to damage Europe, by obliging EU Citizens to massively vote for euro-Sceptics whenever they were the only ones to offer a possibility to promise  real change and oppose Turkey's demand to enter into the EU :

It's for this obvious reason that British UKIP (IndDem) succeeded now (after many statements against Turkey's EU bid) to become Great Britain's 2nd Party, unexpectedly growing bigger even than the Governing Labour Party, as well as the Liberal party  ! Facts prove that it's not an isolated phenomenon : A similar development occured in the Netherlands, where Geert Wilders "Party for Freedom" (PVV) became also the 2nd biggest in the country, (after EPP), boosting the chances of a politician who had withdrawn in 2004 from an older party "because he didn't agree with their position on Turkey". And in several other EU Member Countries, even previously small parties which now focused on a struggle against Turkey's controversial demand to enter in the EU, won much more or even doubled the number of their MEPs (fex. Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, etc).

On the contrary, whenever Socialist and oher parties were explicitly or implicitly for Turkey's controversial EU bid, they obviously lost Citizens' votes and fell down to an unprecedented low.

In consequence, EU Citizens clearly revealed their main political choices, in one way or another : They voted to change for less Bureaucracy, but more Politics and Values in a Europe really open to EU Citizens, but without Turkey's controversial EU bid.

Recent political developments are obviously different from the old political landscape which existed in the Past of 1999-2004, when Socialists based on Turkish 1% vote governed undisputed not only in Germany, but also in the UK, Greece and elsewhere, France followed old policies decided when it had been divided by "cohabitation", before the 3 "NO" to EU  Referenda since May 2005, before Merkel, before Sarkozy, etc.... before the surprises of 7 June 2009 new EU Elections.

If the current candidates to the Top EU jobs promise and guarantee to respect People's democratic choices, OK.

Otherwise, Europe must find new candidates, really motivated and able to implement these democratic choices of the People.

The beginning of crucial, final Decisions are scheduled for the 1st EU Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg, in the middle of July, and they could be completed towards the October session, when Lisbon Treaty's fate will have been fixed.


See relevant Facts also at : http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/2009electionsandturkey.html
http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/daulelections.html
http://www.eurofora.net/brief/brief/euroelectionresult.html

 ***

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