(Switches paragraphs 4 and 5 to clarify that use of powers relates to UniCredit / Commerzbank deal)
By Alvise Armellini and Giuseppe Fonte
ROME (Reuters) -The EU Commissioner for Financial Services, when asked on Friday about German resistance to UniCredit’s attempts to take over Commerzbank, lamented obstacles to the creation of larger European banks.
UniCredit’s takeover ambitions stalled after its building up of a nearly 30% stake in Commerzbank triggered a widespread backlash in Germany.
“I think that actually not facilitating what could be the emergence of European banks at the scale and the level we need to compete with our real competitors is always a shame,” Maria Luis Albuquerque said in a televised interview with Italy’s RaiNews24.
“We have issues with the use of powers that should not be used,” she said.
Speaking during a two-day visit to Italy where she met central bank Governor Fabio Panetta and Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, Albuquerque also reiterated EU reservations about the way Italy uses its “golden power” legislation aimed at protecting national interests in strategic sectors to vet bank mergers.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said this week that member states of the European Union must preserve exclusive jurisdiction on national security matters.
GOLDEN POWERS
Albuquerque declined to comment on a Reuters report that the EU Commission was preparing to act against Italy’s golden power law. However, she said significant merger deals should be vetted at the EU level.
“If there are in any member state, any … situation where other entities would be interfering, that would potentially be in breach of the European rules and we would have to do something about it, because that is our obligation,” she said.
In July, UniCredit blamed conditions imposed by the government for its decision to drop a takeover bid for Banco BPM.
People with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters this month that the Commission would order Italy to withdraw its conditions while also challenging the overall golden power legislation through a separate infringement procedure.
The college of EU commissioners could make a decision on the matter around November 12-13, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Italian and EU officials are negotiating over how Rome can amend the legislation to avoid the infringement procedure, the source added.
Italy could also challenge the order to scrap the conditions on the BPM deal in an EU court.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Giuseppe Fonte, editing by Gavin Jones, Kirsten Donovan)
