The Italian government has modified its Alitalia privatization bill in order to take into account objections from the opposition and avoid possible disciplinary action by the European Union regarding state aid to the national carrier.
The revision will be in the form of a ''maxi-amendment'' to the bill granting Alitalia a 300-million-europ 'bridge' loan.
This will allow the measure to pass through the normal wheels of parliament as opposed to forcing through a decree, which the center-left opposition had opposed.
Based on the modifications, the loan will be transformed into a capital increase necessary for privatization.
Another measure in the amendment is an exempting Alitalia from existing Italian laws governing privatization due to ''extenuating circumstances'' regarding the state of the airline's finances and the crisis in the sector.
From this point of view, the government hopes the EU will not considered the cash injection to be any form of state subsidy.
The amendment also includes the mandate the government has given to the bank Intesa SanPaolo to act as advisor for the sale of the Treasury's controlling 49.9% stake in the airline.
This will be the third attempt to privatize Alitalia after the previous center-left government failed to auction the treasury's stake last summer and a merger deal worked out between Alitalia and Air France and presented last March was rejected by unions, because of job cuts, and the then-opposition center-right, which won the April elections.
According to the new conservative government, privatizing Alitalia is the only way to save the carrier but many observers believe it will be extremely difficult to find a buyer.
It is the government's hope that a leading airline will join with a consortium of Italian investors to buy Alitalia.
However, despite assurances from Premier Silvio Berlusconi, even during the election campaign, that potential investors were ready to step forward no consortium has yet been formed nor has anyone expressed a formal interest in Alitalia.
Meanwhile, British Airways on Tuesday became the latest airline to state that it had no interest in Alitalia after Germany's Lufthansa, Aeroflot Russian Airlines and Spain's Iberia.
Air France at the weekend said that because of the current market crisis it had to think of its own problems.
