Chega requested this Friday the urgent appearance of the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, in the Assembly of the Republic to explain “the position of the Government” on the possible privatization of TAP.
In the request released this Friday, which is addressed to the president of the Economy, Public Works, Urban Development and Housing Commission, Chega cites an article in the weekly Expresso that states that the The Government wants to advance this year with the privatization of at least 50% of TAP and be able to close the deal early next year.
The same newspaper also mentions, without identifying sources, that in the Government there are those who admit the possibility of selling almost the entire airline.
In order to clarify what, after all, is the position of the Government on this matter, and by virtue of the applicable legal and regulatory provisions, the Parliamentary Group of the Chega party has come to request an urgent hearing of Hon. Messrs. Minister of Infrastructure and Housing”, reads the request.
The party led by André Ventura points out that the privatization of the airline “grossly contradicts everything that the socialists have defended“.
It is worth remembering that the reversal of the privatization of TAP was one of the great flags of the first government of António Costa, under the argument that TAP was strategic for the country and that, therefore, it should remain in the State”, he maintains.
The party also states that “this investment was harshly criticized by the Court of Auditors, which stated that it was not efficient and taxed taxpayers in several million euros”, noting that “since the reprivatization, the Portuguese have spent more than 3 billion of euros on the airline”.
During the campaign for the legislative elections in January, in a debate with the then leader of the PSD, Rui Rio, the prime minister stated that “the company will be in a position, as soon as possible, to sell 50% of the capital and there is, fortunately, , other companies interested in acquiring”.
According to this Friday’s edition of Expresso, in recent months there have been talks between the Government, financial advisors and candidate airlines and Lufthansa and the Air France-KLM group are favorites for the purchase of TAP.
Source: Observadora
