MILAN (dpa-AFX) - Italy has warned the EU Commission against a ban on Lufthansa's planned entry into the state-owned Italian airline Ita. Transport Minister Matteo Salvini said on Friday in Milan that a "no" from Brussels would be a "serious attack on Italy, which we will not stand idly by". The leader of the right-wing Lega party spoke of thousands of jobs that could then be lost in Italy.

In a first step, Lufthansa wants to take over 41 percent of the former Alitalia. In return, Ita is to receive 325 million euros in equity from Lufthansa cash. Later, the German airline will be able to acquire a further 49 percent and then the remaining 10 percent. However, the EU Commission, as the responsible approval authority, has not yet approved the project due to competition law concerns.

Salvini - who is also Deputy Prime Minister - said: "If it is true that Brussels is waiting until the day after the European elections to reject the agreement between Ita and Lufthansa, that would be very serious." The European elections are on Sunday. "If someone, out of selfishness or because of pressure from the French bureaucracy, is thinking of throwing thousands of workers overboard and condemning Italy's national airline to an uncertain fate of redundancies, that would be a serious attack."

Both Lufthansa and the Italian state have made concessions in order to get the agreement over the hurdles. The EU Commission fears that customers could suffer from rising prices or poorer quality after the takeover./cs/DP/jha