President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa addressed the issue again during a press conference at a hotel in São Tomé. He remarked that there were “two interpretative confusions” regarding the matter.
“One confusion was that since I had vetoed the socialist bill, there might be a risk of a veto on this bill. However, according to what the Prime Minister explained to me and took to the Council of Ministers, this new bill overcomes those difficulties,” he stated.
The Head of State pointed out that the 2023 decree, vetoed from the previous Socialist Government, had issues because “there was a phase, after all proposals were known, based on transparency, where contacts might lead to a result unrelated to previous process phases.”
“This does not happen. In fact, the previous government did not have the slightest opportunity to make changes in this respect,” he added.
The President identified a “second doubt” concerning whether the Government held a mental reservation about alienating assets under certain conditions, with the possibility of further alienation under other conditions in the future.
He responded, “No. What exists is a proposed legal regime, which will naturally be subject to assessment and promulgation, that anticipates various stages. These stages have been announced.”
“And why various stages? Because some stages take time, such as the submission and evaluation of applications and the right for interested parties to express opinions on them, which can be time-consuming, hence the one-year forecast,” he continued.
The Government expects to complete the four stages of the TAP reprivatization process within a year, although the timeline depends on regulatory approvals.
According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the PSD/CDS-PP Government does not intend to “later perform a flip-flop and alter the initial conditions.”
When asked if he would promulgate the TAP privatization decree, the President of the Republic responded, “If it aligns with what I have just explained, there’s no reason, considering its importance for the country, not to let it pass.”
When questioned about the possibility of the State losing majority ownership of TAP, the Head of State referenced what Prime Minister Luís Montenegro stated.
For the President, with the current PSD/CDS-PP Government, this is not an issue. “In the future, let’s not speculate about what might happen with another government under different circumstances, as you can imagine,” he cautioned.
