Portugal’s Communist Party leader Paula Santos has aimed Prime Minister António Costa for casting doubt on the future of national flag carrier TAP during the first reading of the 2024 state budget bill, reiterating her view of the airline’s strategic role and the need to keep it under public control.
Commenting on TAP’s strategic importance for the country, Santos previously commented that “there is no foreign multinational that can guarantee public service, that can guarantee the Lisbon hub, cohesion, the connection between mainland Portugal and the islands, the connection with the Portuguese communities”.
Following Costa’s presentation of the 2024 budget, the Communist leader said, “TAP is strategic for the country’s development,” stating that “only public control of TAP, at the service of national interests, is the solution”.
The government “is in time not to commit this economic crime. It is in time to prevent the privatisation of TAP”, she added.
“What are you going to do? Are you going to take the step towards the precipice, or are you going to do the right thing and ensure public control and the development of TAP?” she asked.
In response to the Communist Party, Costa stressed that the government has already defined “very well what the criteria are regarding the privatisation of TAP”, with the “last criterion being the price” and the first being the “preservation of the strategic importance” of the company for the domestic economy and the Lisbon hub.
“That’s why I have the peace of mind to tell you: if, in the hypothesis you put forward, the Lisbon hub is not guaranteed and the strategic function is not guaranteed, then there will be no privatisation,” he said, guaranteeing that “privatisation will take place in strict compliance with TAP’s strategic vocation”.
“That’s why we acquired the necessary part of the capital in 2015, that’s why we did the capital increase in 2020, and it’s not now that, in the privatisation, we’re going to sell what has been achieved,” he added.
However, “to achieve this goal, it is not necessary to have 100% of the capital or even 51% of the capital. It depends on who the partner is and what the social pact is between the partners,” he also stressed.
In her speech, Santos argued that the government’s budget proposal not only fails to respond to the “pressing problems” but actually makes them worse, criticising the “huge propaganda operation to try to mislead people about what the budget isn’t and hide what it really is”.
“The government has opted for a budget that limits wage and pension increases, does not promote public investment, and what was planned has not been implemented,” she added.
“What is lacking for the workers and the people is being transferred to the profits of the economic groups”, she added, accusing the executive of not significantly increasing salaries when it knows that “there is money”.
“The government itself recognises that there are resources. It’s content with the budget surplus, with reducing the deficit and debt beyond what was forecast (…) What good is the budget surplus if people live worse?” she asked.
But the budget proposal is precisely “focused on strengthening family incomes, increasing incomes and protecting the future”, Costa added.
(Tiago Almeida, edited by Cristina Cardoso | Lusa.pt)
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