I'm not sure either outfit was actually "closed down by Brussels" as many here are suggesting.
Black Kettle, no one has suggested that either Spanair or Malev were shut down by Brussels.
That postulation is like trying to make an argument in an empty room.
What has been not, suggested, but stated is that the EU environment for operators is a farce. Some subsidies are illegal, but others are legal, yet it depends on the manner in which subsidies are driven and leveraged that makes it ok.
Anything else makes the operational envionment a game of 'musical chairs' and leaves a carrier facing the prospect of falling it's backside when the music stops this time around.
What is farcical is that as
drfaust pointed out:
we choose either protectionism, which is fine by me, or we choose a free market, which is also fine by me. But surely we cant have one airline receiving loads of subsidies whilst another airline is being destroyed for receiving subsidies.