An Argentina congressional committee urged President Cristina Fernandez on Tuesday to expropriate the country's top airline as the government moves to bring the carrier under state control.

Argentina is in talks to take over Aerolineas Argentinas, owned by Spanish travel group Marsans. But negotiations have stalled as the two sides have been unable to agree on how much the company is worth.

The committee's recommendation opens the way for lawmakers to present legislation calling for the company to be expropriated, said Mariano West, a congressman from the ruling Peronist party.

"We have reached this point because we haven't been able to come to an agreement," he said.

Marsans agreed in July to sell Aerolineas Argentinas and its Austral unit to the government. Two audits have been carried out to determine the values of the companies, which employ some 9,000 workers and operate about 80 percent of domestic flights in Argentina.

But Argentine officials have said the government should not have to pay for the airlines, arguing their debt load of an estimated USD$890 million exceeds their value -- a charge Marsans denies.

Marsans spokesman Jorge Molina said that, if the government moved ahead with an expropriation, the company would take its case to the Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID.

Plagued by flight delays and workers' strikes, Aerolineas competes with Chile's LAN Airlines.

Marsans has accused unionized workers of tripping up its operations to try to force the company out.

Aerolineas was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2001 when Marsans bought it from a group controlled by the Spanish government.