“We are completely against this idea [of privatizing TAP]. It is a mistake that, if it comes true, will be an economic crime. And we will do everything to counter this idea,” said Paulo Raimundo.
“TAP needs to be a public company that meets the needs of the country, but a public company with public management criteria. And not a public company with private management criteria. It was these private management criteria that allowed this national commotion – excuse the term – over the 500,000 euros in compensation, over the I don’t know how many million euros in bonuses, over previous compensation, which is still unknown,” added the communist leader.
Paulo Raimundo, who was speaking to journalists during a visit to Setúbal’s Associação Cristã da Mocidade (ACM), a Private Social Solidarity Institution (IPSS) that supports about 200 young people and where he was a cultural animator when he was also young, also recalled that the announcement of TAP’s privatization is already 20 years old.
“We’ve been at this for 20 years. For 20 years that a public company like TAP – which is only the largest national exporter and one of the most important strategic companies in the country – has had private management criteria, exactly for this objective that is intended [privatization],” Paulo Raimundo stressed.
Asked about the Public Ministry’s investigation into suspicions of corruption in the purchase of TAP planes by the company’s previous managers, Paulo Raimundo said that if the TAP commission of inquiry had a broader scope, as advocated by the PCP, it could also help provide answers to this question.
“We proposed that the commission of inquiry be extended to the entire privatization process. Some people thought it was not worth it,” said Paulo Raimundo, regretting that BE and PS had prevented this possibility.
