The leader of the Socialist Party (PS) today deemed the government’s decision on the reprivatization of TAP appropriate, demanding, however, the reimbursement to taxpayers of the three billion euros invested in the airline during the pandemic.
“TAP has to grow, and to grow, it needs to open up to international investors. That is why we believe the option is appropriate. We also believe that Portugal should retain the majority of its shareholding structure, the majority of its capital, to ensure four primary objectives,” said José Luís Carneiro in a statement at the PS headquarters in Lisbon.
However, the socialist leader presented two demands regarding this issue, the first being that the privatization terms set by the government should not be altered by any “parassocial agreement” during the process.
The “second demand” is that the three billion euros invested by the state in the company during the pandemic “should, in the medium and long term, be reimbursed to Portuguese taxpayers,” he said.
The PS leader criticized the statement from the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, when he said that the government does not want to continue “throwing money into a bottomless pit.”
“I find it a wrong statement,” he said, arguing that Montenegro’s declaration, at a time when TAP’s capital will be open to private investors, “might contribute to its depreciation rather than appreciation as a strategic asset of the Portuguese state.”
The government today approved the decree-law that initiates TAP’s reprivatization process, aiming to sell off, in an initial phase, 49.9% of the airline’s capital, announced the Prime Minister.
Luís Montenegro addressed journalists at the official residence in São Bento, during the Cabinet meeting, without taking questions.
The Prime Minister referred further details about this decree-law, which will be “developed in due course with the presentation of the terms of reference,” to a press conference by the Finance and Infrastructure Ministers, scheduled today at 5:00 PM, but made the political objective clear.
“We have already spent a lot of money that did not impact the lives of Portuguese men and women. We do not want to keep throwing money into a bottomless pit; we want the company to be profitable, well-managed, competitive, financially sustainable, and to serve the strategic interests of the country,” he said.
