Outgoing Prime Minister Romano Prodi said on Monday an Italian bid for Alitalia, which has agreed to be bought by Air France-KLM, would be desirable but so far no serious offer had been made.
Prodi made his comments as Air France-KLM's planned takeover of the nearly-bankrupt airline, approved by his government, enters a decisive week ahead of a March 31 deadline to win over combative unions opposed to the deal.
The unions, angry at Air France-KLM's proposals to reduce or exclude from the deal nearly a third of Alitalia's work force, are due to meet the Franco-Dutch airline's CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta on Tuesday after previous talks ended in stalemate.
The planned takeover has become a hot campaign issue ahead of Italy's April 13-14 election, with poll favorite Silvio Berlusconi saying he would veto it if elected and urging an Italian consortium to come up with an alternative offer.
"We have always been open to this (an Italian consortium)... Of course it is desirable. The problem is whether it's there," Prodi said in an interview with Sky TG24.
"A proposal must be concrete, backed by resources, have an industrial plan -- serious things. So far we have not seen anything except for the plan that we have taken into consideration," he said.
On the campaign trail, Berlusconi said last week an Italian consortium led by local carrier and previous bidder Air One would rescue Alitalia from the "arrogant and unacceptable" French offer.
Air France-KLM's all-share offer values Alitalia at 10 euro cents per share -- a large discount to the 0.53 euros per share market price just before the offer -- but also includes a bond buy-back and a EUR1 billion euro capital increase.
Rivals have accused Berlusconi of bluffing to drum up nationalist sentiment. They say his rhetoric risks scaring off Air France-KLM, which says it will only go ahead with the blessing of the unions and of Italy's next government, and drive Alitalia closer to financial collapse.
Spinetta says there is little room to modify the offer from Air France-KLM -- the world's biggest airline by revenues -- and wants issues resolved by March 31, including resolution of a USD$2 billion lawsuit against Alitalia from Malpensa Airport's operator SEA over cuts in Alitalia flights there.
The chairman of Air One, whose initial 1 euro cent a share bid for Alitalia was rejected by Prodi's government, said in a newspaper interview on Saturday he was ready to make a new offer but needed three weeks to study Alitalia's books.
Carlo Toto said Air One, together with Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo had continued working on their project even after their initial proposal was spurned by the government, which is selling its 49.9 percent stake in the airline.
Italy's Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, who is overseeing the sale, has said any new offer would have to be made in a matter of days, not weeks, because of Alitalia's precarious financial situation. The airline loses more than EUR1 million a day and has debts of EUR1.2 billion.
Prodi on Monday called on unions to show their sense of responsibility.
Some members in Prodi's cabinet have however distanced themselves from the Air France-KLM offer since the government approved it earlier this month.
Transport Minister Alessandro Bianchi, a communist, said on Monday Alitalia's finances were not as bad as Padoa-Schioppa implied, and Air One should make a rival binding offer quickly.
