After negotiations with European Union's competition head, Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter, became confident for Vienna. Fekter said the country's largest city would get the deal with the European Commission. The talks were primarily about Hypo Alpe Adria, the nationalized lender which is supposed to have a schedule for its restructuring.
"I am very, very confident that we will come to a positive ending here, namely we will get more time," she told ORF, an Australian newscaster last Wednesday.
She added that Joaquin Almunia, the European Union Competition Commissioner, had presented consideration for Vienna's "technical problems."
Last Tuesday, the Competition Commissioner told ORF, "More time is not a solution." He said the disagreement should be resolved as soon as possible.
He added, "We expect to receive the restructuring plan from the Austrian authorities in the new few days and we expect that this restructuring plan will enable us to finally take a decision rapidly."
EU had been demanding Hypo to break itself up. It further gave the nationalized lender a few more months to do what it was told. If Hypo did not abide EU, it would need to pay more than Euro 2 billion or US$2.6 billion. The amount was provided to Hypo in 2009 as a state aid.
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