The Azores government guarantees that the relationship with the airline is “the most satisfactory and reliable”. The statements come after the PS/Açores accused it of having a debt of more than 30 million euros.
The Government of the Azores (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) stated on Friday that it is “absolutely false” that it has debts of 30 million Euros (ME) with the SATA group and repudiated and denied the statements of the leader of the PS/Azores on the subject.
“It is absolutely false that the Azorean government has debts of 30 million euros with the SATA group,” the coalition government said in a statement.
The reaction of the regional government, led by the social democrat José Manuel Bolieiro, came after criticism from the leader of the PS/Azores, Francisco César, for “lack of action” and for “accumulating debts”, denouncing that it owes to companies and sports institutions, and social and cultural agents.
The director, quoted in a statement, also criticized the executive’s justifications for the lack of payment: “The first excuse was the Budget [Regional]; the second excuse was the Government of the Republic, which even now is of the same colour as the party, the PSD, and which apparently did not resolve anything.”
Francisco César also accused the regional government of increasing the debt with suppliers by more than 100 million euros and the debt of the Health sector by more than 200 million euros, highlighting that “even SATA [a companhia aérea pública açoriana] The debt exceeds 30 million euros.”
In response, the Azorean executive recalled that “the financial relationship between the Government of the Azores and the SATA Group is today, perhaps, the most docile and reliable that it has ever existed.”
“The Government of the Azores has made an exemplary performance of all payments to all SATA Group companies, relating to different contracts and services, including the provision of inter-island air transport services, the concession of regional aerodromes, the Azores Tariff and the PET Tariff,” he added.
He also recalls that it was the current PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition that “managed to settle a debt of tens of millions of euros that the region had with SATA, the result of an inexplicable legacy of the PS governments.”
For the Government of the Azores, Francisco César’s statements “show a total lack of responsibility and capacity, quite blatantly discrediting the words of someone with political ambition to run for the government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores.”
“A leader needs credibility and honesty, but also the ability to adequately inform himself and critically analyse the information provided to him,” he says.
And he continues: “One of the two: either Francisco César lied knowing that the Government of the Azores owes nothing to SATA, or he was fooled by what he was told. In any case, he demonstrates his total lack of preparation and inability, something that is not acceptable in someone who wants to assume the role of leader of the opposition.”
For the coalition executive, “this situation is aggravated when this irresponsible and frivolous tone is used to speak of a public business group that is in serious economic and financial difficulties due to the responsibility of the PS governments, the objective of a Restructuring Plan agreed with the European Commission, and which needs stability to operate and credibility for the relationship with its commercial partners.”
Source: Observadora
