Ryanair accused the European Commission today of trying to block its acquisition of Aer Lingus to appease political interests.
The airline's long-running battle to take over the former state airline suffered a setback late last night, when the Commission issued a formal series of objections laying out reasons against the deal, sources familiar with the situation said.
The proposed merger "is likely to significantly impede effective competition" by "eliminating the most credible potential entrant" on 37 routes to and from Dublin, Bloomberg news agency quoted the charge sheet as saying.
Ryanair condemned the leak of the document, and said the Commission's allegations contradicted its previous decisions allowing large airline mergers.
The company said the statement of objections was "clearly designed to appease the political interests of the Government, rather than advancing the interests of Irish consumers and visitors."
A Commission spokesman declined to add anything to the Commission's statement on December 20th which announced its in-depth review of the deal, scheduled to last until June 13th.
"My main priority on this case is to make sure that consumers would continue to enjoy a competitive choice of airline services", Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said at the time.
But in its statement today, Ryanair argued that the deal would provide savings which it would pass on to consumers.