Brussels vs national capitals
The Commission has been in talks with Spain over the case since last year. After the complaint, the Spanish government will have two months to respond. After that, the Commission can challenge the Spanish government at the EU’s top court, in a procedure which could last years and result in major fines.
There are other fact-finding Commission conversations taking place, on EU bank mergers, but these conversations are not public. The preliminary talks, known as “pilot procedures,” represent the step before a formal infringement procedure.
A similar “pilot procedure” is ongoing with Italy — which used national security provisions to intervene in a domestic banking merger, UniCredit-BPM. The Commission is currently examining Italy’s response to its questions within the EU Pilot, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Earlier this week the Commission sent a letter of concerns to Italy warning that it may have violated the bloc’s merger rules with its UniCredit-BPM decision.
If the Commission chooses to challenge national blocks of bank mergers more frequently, it would be a direct challenge to governments, who keep their national champions on a tight leash. The German government intervened extensively to prevent a merger between its lender Commerzbank and Italian bank Unicredit, although it did not formally block it.
The Spanish economy ministry said it has received the letter and will “continue to cooperate constructively” with the Commission — although it noted that the laws in question, which include the discretionary powers for the economy minister, “have been in force for quite some years.”
