Criticism has been voiced by the leader of the PCP Parliamentary Group, Paula Santos, during a press conference, following the government’s announcement that it would not present the parliamentary evaluations of TAP conducted between 2023 and 2025, as well as other documents deemed “sensitive.”
In response to a request from the PCP, the Ministry of Finance claimed the reports contained sensitive information, the disclosure of which could jeopardize the state’s negotiating position in the privatization process.
Paula Santos argued, “The government is hiding behind arguments regarding strategic elements of the company to avoid making these studies available, but the fact is that these arguments hold no weight because this concerns the Assembly of the Republic,” a sovereign body.
“The deputies have been directly elected by the people. If there is a confidential element, the Assembly of the Republic respects these elements,” she stated.
The communist leader expressed that “the government indeed demonstrates opacity and a lack of transparency in TAP’s privatization process, preventing deputies from scrutinizing and overseeing the executive,” particularly concerning the monitoring of the TAP’s reprivatization process.
“It seems the PSD/CDS government wants to adopt a procedure similar to what it did in 2015, with the same parties, in total opacity and lack of transparency, yet simultaneously not defending the public interest and the country’s interest,” she added.
When questioned if revealing the information requested by the PCP might undermine the state’s financial outcome in TAP’s privatization process, Paula Santos dismissed this argument.
“What undermines the company is this privatization process, which we have been demanding to be canceled. The argument that it would harm the company holds no weight because the Assembly of the Republic is a sovereign body, the deputies are directly elected by our people, and should there be a confidential document, naturally, the deputies will also uphold such confidentiality,” she countered.
According to the PCP’s leader, “One cannot prevent, as the government is doing, a sovereign body from accessing documentation important within the scope of its monitoring and scrutiny of the executive’s activities.”
Paula Santos reiterated that in 2015, the PSD/CDS government also expedited TAP’s privatization “hastily and secretly from everyone – and that was truly detrimental to the company.”
“It is crucial to halt this privatization process, reinforce TAP’s public management in service of our country’s interest, with a perspective on the company’s development. TAP is absolutely strategic, not only in terms of connections, passengers, and goods but also for its potential to be strengthened, for instance, in the maintenance and engineering areas,” she added.
