IL calls for the privatization of the entire TAP

“Under the applicable constitutional and regulatory provisions, the Assembly of the Republic resolves to recommend to the Government that, through the member of the Government responsible for the area of ​​finance – with the power of delegation – it makes every effort to sell the State’s entire shareholding in TAP – Transportes Aéreos Portugueses SGPS to any other companies that are in a controlling or group relationship with it (TAP Group)”, states the draft resolution of the Liberal Initiative to which Jornal Económico had access.

The IL document sets out the reasons. “For the Liberal Initiative, the situation has always been very clear: TAP should never have been renationalised, precisely to avoid what ended up happening: taxpayers having to bail out the company without getting their money back. Over the last few years, the Liberal Initiative has proposed privatising the company on several occasions in order to relieve taxpayers of future burdens once and for all. The State should leave the sectors where competitive markets operate and focus on providing its essential functions”, the party states.

In the project signed by the nine IL deputies, there is criticism of Luís Montenegro's Government in this regard.

“TAP has been an issue that has led to different positions on the part of political agents. For example, the previous Prime Minister had six different positions on the issue, demonstrating that even he could not agree on a position with himself”, states IL.

“The current government, despite apparently having a clearer position in favor of the privatization of the airline, is still not clear about the terms and limits it imposes on the negotiation,” he adds.

“We are witnessing interventions that, in our view, are worrying,” says IL, which cites a quote from the Prime Minister that says “I have always argued that the ideal is for us to achieve a total privatization of capital, as long as we secure the routes that are strategic for us and the hub in Lisbon. If that does not happen, I prefer to keep the situation as it is.”

IL accuses Prime Minister Luís Montenegro of being willing “to sacrifice taxpayers’ money in the name of routes that are theoretically strategic but, in reality, can be covered by other companies”.

The Initiative also says that although TAP has currently made profits over the last three years, “there are many constraints inherent to its operation that raise questions about the effectiveness of the State's role in the company's operation, which could, sooner or later, lead the State to new interventions with capital injections and/or loans convertible into capital, as other companies in the State business sector are examples of”.

“Additionally, it is also important to note that these profits, at their current size, would take 30 years with results on average over the last 3 years to recover the 3.2 billion injected into the company during the nationalization process”, concludes IL.