The PSD chairman threatened on Monday to break the agreement on the location of the new Lisbon airport if the report of the independent technical committee was not “100% independent” and believed that the renationalization of REN “deserves reflection”.
In an interview with TVI/CNN Portugal, Montenegro was asked whether the PSD will respect the agreement reached with the PS in September 2022 on the choice of the location of the new Lisbon airport.
“One thing the PSD doesn’t have to do is comply with everything. The PSD sets conditions, the government is the one who must meet them, the PSD does not have the ability to maneuver, we do not manage the process”replied the PSD leader.
Montenegro said the PSD imposed conditions on the government, including that work at Humberto Delgado airport was “immediately carried out,” stressing that the agreement was concluded a year ago and that this work “has not yet started.”
On the other hand, Montenegro stated that the agreement also provided that the independent technical committee would be composed of academics who “had not previously expressed an opinion on the issue”.
“I don’t want to doubt people’s independence, but I doubted it and warned the Prime Minister about this when I saw the chairman of the independent technical committee [Rosário Partidário] saying he would decide where the new airport would be”he said, emphasizing that this wasn’t what woke him up “with doctor António Costa and the PS”.
The Social Democratic leader emphasized that the “Technics is asked to indicate the advantages and disadvantages of each location”adding that he hopes the report prepared by the independent technical committee will not be “riddled with any particular interest from anyone”.
“I really hope so. It can only be this way… This is either 100% technical and 100% rigorous, or they don’t even charge the PSD for anything”he emphasized.
Montenegro also stated that he hoped that after receiving the report he would be able to prepare an opinion, and that this opinion “coincided with that of the government”, which he said would be “good for Portugal”.
“But I am neither responsible for the government nor is the government in charge of mine. I cannot guarantee that we will have this agreement. What I can guarantee is that we will look very carefully and with great care at what the technicians do.” they will tell us”he assured.
In this interview, the PSD leader also discussed the privatization process of TAP, expressing support for the sale of 100% of the airline’s capital, although he admitted that this could be done in a gradual manner.
However, when Montenegro was asked about a sale to the Spanish airline Ibéria, he was of the opinion that it would be “very dangerous” from a strategic point of view if the country were to “lose” TAP to an “operator with the characteristics of Iberia, namely with the ‘hub’ it has in Madrid”.
Asked about possible renationalizations of other national companies, Montenegro said he did not like the word “renationalization” but thought the privatization of REN “deserves consideration.”
“Looking back, REN was the only company with which I doubted whether we benefited from the privatization, even though this was an imposition they left us in the memorandum of understanding with the ‘troika’. If that were not the case, and I assume it is in Portugal’s strategic interest that REN is state-owned.”he said.
Source: DN
