The PSD was of the opinion on Friday that the veto of the President of the Republic against the government decree to reprivatize TAP is “the culmination of a soap opera of continuous zigzag movements” by the executive power, which it accuses of a “huge lack of transparency”.
Last Friday, the President of the Republic vetoed the government decree setting the conditions for the reprivatization of TAP, asking for clarifications on state intervention, the sale or acquisition of assets and the transparency of the operation.
Speaking to Lusa, the vice-president of the PSD, Miguel Pinto Luz, said that the party shares the doubts of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and has “many others” about the reprivatization of the company, in a process he classifies as “a pile of rubble after rubble.”
“In fact, this is the culmination of a soap opera of constant zigzags by António Costa, who changed his mind three or four times, and a huge lack of transparency”criticized.
The Social Democratic leader considered it serious that, even after a request for clarification from the President of the Republic to the government, the executive’s explanation did not make it possible to “fully clarify three aspects” that the Head of State considered essential.
In the note available on the website of the Presidency of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that he had requested “additional clarifications from the government”, but “unfortunately the answers received yesterday did not allow him to fully resolve his doubts to clarify”.
When asked whether the PSD follows the president’s questions, Pinto Luz replied affirmatively: “Of course we have these and many others.”
“This process is completely covered in enormous doubts and enormous opacity”he considered.
The PSD delegate admitted that this veto could delay the reprivatization process, but held the government responsible for this possible delay.
“If the government would be transparent and take a different attitude, it could certainly be faster”he said.
When asked whether presidential doubts about the state’s effective monitoring and intervention capacity at TAP call into question the sale of more than 51% of the company, Pinto Luz relented, offering a different analysis.
“What the President of the Republic seems to be asking me is what monitoring mechanisms are in place. During the 2015 privatization, which I was part of, we had a monitoring committee precisely to guarantee this.”he emphasized.
Pinto Luz was Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications in the second PSD/CDS-PP government led by Pedro Passos Coelho, which approved a TAP privatization process but which ultimately ‘fell’ in parliament, with the process being reversed by the next executive, led by the socialist António Costa.
The question of “future effective monitoring and intervention capacity of the state in a strategic company, such as TAP” is the first doubt raised by the President of the Republic, who states this in the note “In allowing the sale of any percentage above 51%, subsequent administrative decisions do not expressly foresee or authorize a role for the state”.
The fact that the diploma “admit that TAP, even before the decision to sell, can sell or acquire any type of assets, without any other minimum precision or criteria” in “inability to guarantee total transparency, at a phase of contacts prior to the preparation of the specifications” These are the other doubts expressed by the President of the Republic to justify the veto.
Source: DN
