The PCP will propose in the Assembly of the Republic (AR) the resumption of control of Galp by the Portuguese state, revealed on Tuesday the General Secretary of the Communists, Paulo Raimundo, who admitted, however, that he had no illusions about his approval.
“The PCP will introduce a bill to the AR for the resumption of public control of Galp. [Mas] we have no great illusions about the final result. Those responsible for the ongoing crime will certainly want to continue it.”said the PCP leader at a public hearing in Sines.
By “crime”, he had specified earlier, the communists understood the “appropriation” of the company “by national and foreign shareholders”, who “are called oligarchs in other places, but here are entrepreneurs”, through the “process of liberalization and privatization of Galp”.
This process is led by the “major economic groups and those at their service”, namely “the PS, the PSD and the CDS”, which the PCP brought before the “judgment” this Tuesday at the public hearing entitled “A strategic tool to serve the workers and the people: take back public control of Galp” and who had to “make a simple statement”.
“Guilty! Guilty of a process that harmed workers, consumers, the national economy and the Portuguese state. Guilty of an economic crime that only benefited a small group of people who appropriated the company and its gigantic profits”convicted Paulo Raimundo.
By way of example, the Secretary-General recalled this “Galp paid out more than 800 million euros in dividends between 2006 and 2016 than the state earned with the privatization” of the company, in addition to “distributed since then 2.2 million euros”.
“All in all, there was 3 billion euros that the State could use to invest in what is needed, but no, it was all in the hands of the ‘needy’ shareholders”joked Paulo Raimundo.
Therefore, he stressed that “the resumption of public control over Galp” is not only a possibility, but also “a concrete need with each passing day.”
“A concrete need that puts an end to the liberalization of fuels and energy, the brake on price increases and speculation. This is a need of workers, companies, families, patriots, democrats, the Portuguese people”concluded the leader of the communists.
Source: DN
