My team - Joaquín Almunia - European Commission
I sent them an email today to the EU Commission asking why press reports indicated the money from the Italian post office (100% owned by the Italian state) to be used to buy new shares in Alitalia would in principle be approved.
To give Brussels credit, I got an answer back within 2 hours, saying that the Italian Govt had not yet notified the EU Commission of the proposed transaction, so for the time being the Commission has to just wait to be told the formal details. The email reply also indicated that once notified, the Commission will then take a look at it.
Just for good measure, I also filed a formal complaint to the EU Commission regarding EU state aid and have a record of receipt from the Commission - makes it that little bit harder for Brussels to ignore as they now have to give me a formal response. If you have an opinion as to whether or not this is state aid, I would encourage others to communicate this to Brussels as well - if you have some basic knowledge of air transport economics, the process is fairly simple.
It is certainly possible that some deal will be done between politicians at a high level to whitewash the whole thing, but the various people in Brussels did at least respond promptly to my enquiry.