(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission said Thursday it had received draft plans from Rome concerning the privatisation of near-bankrupt flag carrier Alitalia.

Italian media reported Tuesday that a new company had been formed to takeover the ailing airline's healthy assets as a part of a long awaited rescue.

"We received the information from the Italian authorities yesterday ... in the form of a draft text for the privatisation plans for Alitalia," commission spokesman Fabio Pirotta told journalists.

"At this stage, it would be quite unwise to make any substantive comments on the text itself," he added.

The EU state aid watchdog is in the process investigating whether a 300 million euro (443 million dollar) loan to Alitalia meets European bailout rules and has expressed doubts.

Alitalia, in which the state has a 49.9 percent stake, has been surviving on the state loan made in late April after the collapse of takeover talks with Air France-KLM.

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