New EU transport chief vows even hand on Alitalia

By Pete Harrison

STRASBOURG, France, June 16 (Reuters) - The European Union's designated transport commissioner said on Monday he would not let his Italian nationality get in the way of investigating Italy's loan to struggling airline Alitalia AZPIa.MI.

Antonio Tajani, a lawmaker close to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, was nominated last month as Italy's man in the European Commission following the departure of Franco Frattini to join Berlusconi's new government.

The EU transport post includes overseeing attempts by Italy to rescue Alitalia without falling afoul of EU state aid rules.

"Whenever the Commission feels treaties are not being respected, the Commission has to intervene," Tajani told a European Parliament briefing. "I will behave in exactly the same way regardless of which country we are talking about."

"That is the path to follow, and there are no differences between Alitalia, Olympic or any other airline," he added.

The European Commission last week launched an investigation into a 300 million euros ($461 million) loan made by the Italian government to Alitalia, saying it could constitute illegal state aid.

The probe is the latest setback to the Italian government's efforts to avert an embarrassing financial collapse of the state-controlled carrier while an 18 month-long hunt for a new buyer continues.

"On Alitalia I have behaved as a European commissioner," said Tajani. "I didn't first look at my passport, even though I was born in Rome. I wasn't going to pass the burden of this subject on to another commissioner."