The person who raised the issue was PCP parliamentary leader Paula Santos. ‘There is no foreign multinational that guarantees public services, that guarantees the Lisbon hub [da TAP]cohesion, the connection between the mainland and the islands, the connection with Portuguese communities.”
And therefore, since in his opinion this is not possible, and since TAP is “strategic for the development of the country”, “only public control over TAP, in the service of national interests”, will represent “the solution”. In other words, the government “is in time not to commit this economic crime”, in other words, “it is in time to prevent the privatization of TAP”. “What are you going to do? Are you going to take a step forward towards the abyss or are you going to do what is right and guarantee public control and the development of TAP?” asked the communist deputy prime minister. Monday in Parliament, on the first of two days of debate on the bulk of next year’s state budget (OE2024).
“I am confident I can tell you: if, in this hypothesis that you put forward, the Lisbon hub is not guaranteed and its strategic function is not guaranteed, in that case there will be no privatization.”
António Costa did not stutter this time: the government has already defined “very well” what the applicable criteria will be when selling the national airline to a private party. And within these criteria the “last thing is price”. The “first” will therefore be the “preservation of the strategic importance” of the company for the national economy and the hub of Lisbon (for example, Lisbon’s ability to remain a stopover for flights from Brazil to the rest of Europe). ).
In other words, Costa also told the communist delegate: “I can tell you with confidence: if, in this hypothesis that you put forward, the Lisbon hub is not guaranteed and the strategic function is not guaranteed, in that case There will be no privatization.” This “will be done in strict respect of the strategic vocation of TAP” and “that is why we acquired the necessary part of the capital in 2015; that is why we have announced the capital increase in 2020 and it is not now that privatization will alienate what has been achieved.” I leave the reservation that I already made in the last fortnightly debate: “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 it depends on what the social pact is between the partners.”
There is no setback in IUC
By giving impetus to the issue of the Lisbon junction and ensuring that this issue is a priority in the reprivatization, António Costa has finally settled the entire argument about the lack of transparency in the process, which was highlighted this week by the president of the republic, relegated to the background. his veto over the government’s privatization decree. In fact, no one, except Chega, examined Marcelo’s arguments in his favor (see text opposite).
Moreover, Costa spent the entire time attacking, especially the parties to the right of the PS, accusing them of, for lack of better arguments, wanting to boil down the entire OE2024 discussion to the proposal to increase the IUC for pre-2007 cars. why do not you want[em] discuss the increase of salaries and pensions, the reduction of the IRS, the increase of social benefits, the strengthening of public investments or good economic and budgetary results”.
In this topic, from the IUC, Costa showed signs that he will not back down, further arguing that the arguments according to which he could look forward to a thousand percent increase are false. “Every citizen who pays his IUC will be able to verify that he will pay a maximum of 25 euros extra in 2024. And within a year we will verify here again that this brake on the increase of 25 euros will remain in 2025 and the same will happen in each of the following years,” he assured.
Moreover, the head of the government emphasized the idea that the PSD, with its administration, was left without flags. “After the PPD/PSD adopted the immediate reduction of the IRC as a priority during the election campaign – and pushed a possible reduction of the IRS to 2025 or 2026, if circumstances allowed – they remembered in the middle of the summer that finally the IRS wanted to reduce! The PPD/PSD adopted this proposal the way summer lovers do: they bury themselves in the sand. This interest was so fleeting that it quickly turned to disinterest and today they don’t even talk about it anymore. Worse still, when they were surprised by the administration’s proposal to cut the IRS, they said it was electoral.”
For the Right Opposition, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, leader of the PSD bank, set the general tone by speaking about the “four deadly sins” of OE2024: lack of economic growth, tax increases, lack of public investment and “incompetence” in management of various public services, starting with the SNS.
On the left, Mariana Mortágua, leader of BE, declared that “the demand of the moment” is to “save the SNS,” also accusing the executive of using “poorly disguised blackmail” on its professionals when they direct responsibility for keeping services running.
Inês Sousa Real, from PAN, asked for an extension of VAT Zero, and Rui Tavares, from Livre, an IMT surcharge for non-residents and non-taxpayers buying luxury properties. The two parties will only announce their voting directions today.
Source: DN
