EU Commission Investigates Spanair Collapse

The European Commissioner for Competition, Joaquín Almunia, has spoken of the likelihood that the collapse of Spanair could result in an investigation into the legality behind public funding received by the airline.

As recently as December, the commission received two complaints about Spanair's funding and opened an investigation into the matter. In a radio interview the commissioner acknowledged that just because the entity in question had ceased trading, that it did not mean that the investigation had come to an end.

Almunia spoke of proposals to reform the regulations surrounding publically funded 'aid', with the specific aim of simplifying the system and allowing the European Commission the freedom to investigate significant cases on their own initiative.

The Commissioner confirmed he would be opening talks with EU member states, the European Parliament and all other implicated parties to reform the laws and that he would be proposing a package of specific measures that could be brought in before the end of 2013.

The proposed reforms would carry three main objectives: The enabling of faster decision making by the Commission; to focus on funding control with greater intensity, and to support the efforts of EU Member states in increasing growth.

As far as Spanair is concerned, bankruptcy proceedings have already begun, with an estimated 3,000 creditors expected to make a claim on the airline's 125 Million euro assets.

However, the collapsed entity owes some 474 million euros in debt.