The European Commission today criticised Spain and Italy for obstructing foreign takeover bids for national blue-chip companies, taking legal steps that could lead to court action.
The European Union's executive, which is seeking to remove obstacles to cross-border mergers, said both countries had overstepped the mark when they imposed conditions or put obstacles in the path of the deals.
The Commission has sole respsonibility to review, approve or reject pan-European mergers over a certain size.
It opened an infringement procedure, a step towards court action, against Spain earlier this year after the Spanish regulator imposed stringent conditions on German utility E.ON's €37 billion bid for Spain's Endesa.
Separately, the Commision told Italy it broke EU law when a national road regulator rejected a €14 billion merger deal between toll-road operator Autostrade and Spain's Abertis.