Poland is refusing to budge from its opposition to Unicredito Italiano SpA's plan to merge its Polish unit Bank Pekao with Poland's BPH, which Unicredito is acquiring via its HVB Group AG merger, reports the Financial Times, citing the government's deputy treasury minister.
'In our view, Unicredito has unquestionably violated the privatisation agreement. We think the clause in the privatisation agreement stands up in the light of EU rules...Why should be talk about a compromise?,' said Pawel Szalamacha, cited in the report.
The European Commission has sent the government two letters, one from its competition services and one from its internal market services.
It has received a response for the former, which the commission is studying.
The commission's query to Poland follows a letter from the Polish treasury to Unicredito saying that the company is breaching 1999 Pekao privatisation agreements by buying BPH shares.
The commission says the Polish authorities cannot stop the merger for reasons related to restricting either competition or the free movement of capital.
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