The Portuguese president, the conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, did not promulgate the law on the privatization of the airline TAP Air Portugal to ask the Government for “clarifications” on the procedure, he announced on Friday. The Portuguese Head of State returned the law to the Government to ask for details on “the capacity of the State to intervene in a strategic company” or even guarantees on “the transparency of the privatization procedure”, he stated. in a press release posted on the presidency’s website.
At the end of September, the Portuguese Government officially launched the privatization of at least 51% of the capital of the national airline TAP Air Portugal, which is arousing the interest of its European competitors, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and the IAG group ( British Aerovías) and Iberia). The socialist executive, who also wants to reserve up to 5% for employees, then specified that he plans to adopt the detailed specifications that the future owner of the company must complete before the end of the year, or at the beginning of next year, at the latest.
Health crisis
However, during this announcement, the government had defined several “strategic objectives”, such as the growth of TAP and the development of the Lisbon “hub”, from where the company provides an important part of the connections between Europe and Brazil, in particular . After a difficult period during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Portuguese airline returned to profit in 2022. TAP even announced on Tuesday a record profit of 180.5 million euros in the third quarter, 62.2% more than in the same period last year.
The company was completely renationalized in an emergency, in 2020, benefiting from an injection of 3.2 billion euros of public funds accompanied by a restructuring plan negotiated with the European Commission.
Source: BFM TV
