Vestager sees "very serious" overlaps in the Lufthansa and Air Berlin markets

The European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, said today that the EU Executive is analyzing "very thoroughly" the acquisition of Air Berlin by Lufthansa, having detected "very serious" overlaps in the markets of both companies.

Brussels, Nov 21 (EFE) .- The European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, said today that the EU Executive is analyzing "very thoroughly" the acquisition of Air Berlin by of Lufthansa, having detected "very serious" overlaps in the markets of both companies.

"In the merger of Lufthansa and Air Berlin we are investigating these markets very thoroughly because we see very serious overlaps. declared the Danish policy during a hearing in the European Parliament's Committee on Economic Affairs.

For the Commissioner, the purchase as proposed may result in a price increase of air travel in the routes offered and offered by both companies.

He specified that now that Air Berlin is no longer active in the market, they have been detected changes in the operation of the mechanisms to fix the prices of the routes.

"We can see immediately that there is a reaction in the market when some routes are no longer offered and some planes are on land, "he explained.

On October 12, the Lufthansa group decided to buy 210 million euros for most of Air Berlin, a company that had declared insolvent in mid-August and in which will invest 1,500 million euros.

Now, the operation is pending to receive the green light of Brussels.

On the merger of The chemical and pharmaceutical Bayer with the agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto, said that the "important" is that farmers are still able to choose between different types of products such as pesticides and to maintain innovation in the sector after the acquisition.

Regarding the revelations of the "paradise papers", on the activities of companies and public figures in opaque territories, Vestager said it is "too early" to say whether cases will be opened against companies that have avoided paying taxes in the European Union, and that the present Brussels is analyzing the information of that journalistic investigation.