The president of the Liberal Initiative, Rui Rocha, this Wednesday believed that the government of António Costa “has reached the limit” with the statements made by the CEO of TAP in the parliamentary inquiry committee, as they “demonstrate the total failure of socialist management ” prove. .
“We are in fact at a time when political power, the government of António Costa, has reached its limit, because this is playing with the Portuguese, with taxpayers’ money, with the airline. Leave and leave urgently”, said Rui Rocha.
The leader of the Liberal Initiative (IL) spoke to journalists as they left Lisbon’s Amadora-Sintra Hospital, after meeting with the administration of that hospital ward, whose workers will strike again between April 18 and 21.
For Rui Rocha, the successive revelations made since it became known that former administrator Alexandra Reis received a compensation of 500 thousand euros proves “the total failure of the socialist management at TAP” and are “the end of the line” for the government.
“If this is with TAP, how will it be in the rest? How is it with EFACEC, with CP, with public companies? What is happening in Portugal that the Portuguese are paying more and more taxes, they are increasingly struggling to end of the month, and then the management of public services (…) is a real joke?” he wondered.
The IL leader believed that the parliamentary hearing of TAP’s CEO (executive president) on Tuesday showed that “political pressure” overlapped with “efficiency and effectiveness” in the airline’s management, proving “the appalling decision” that was his renationalization.
“It is absolutely unacceptable, we are in a scenario where 3,200 million Portuguese are invested in TAP, and what we see is that the company is not managed according to criteria of efficiency, productivity, it is managed according to political criteria,” underlined .
Rui Rocha spoke about several moments of Christine Ourmières-Widener’s hearing and highlighted a meeting between socialist deputies, government advisers and TAP’s CEO, which took place in January, as this meeting was an “unsustainable breach of political power” in parliamentary work forms.
Rocha said he has records that this meeting was promoted by the Ministry of Infrastructure – again asking for João Galamba’s resignation – but also had “advisors from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs”, led by Ana Catarina Mendes.
“Ana Catarina Mendes, João Galamba, their ministries, the government, are present and make management decisions, they hold secret meetings … You can’t. We have reached the limit of what is acceptable in democracy,” he said.
On the other hand, the leader of IL also mentioned an alleged email, which was not denied by the CEO of TAP, according to which the former Secretary of State for Infrastructure Hugo Mendes had asked for the postponement of a flight from Mozambique that he was targeting as a passenger , the President of the Republic.
“All this makes no sense and I want to ask the Prime Minister, António Costa, directly what he has to say to the country on all these issues. The ultimate responsibility rests with him and him alone,” he said.
Asked about his expectations for Alexandra Reis’ parliamentary hearing, which takes place today, Rui Rocha emphasized that he hoped this hearing would not focus on “small management, on the small act, on the small decision”.
“What needs to be understood is how 3,200 million was placed [de euros] of the taxpayers at TAP and, given this, how is it possible to run a board that is purely political, incompetent and negligent,” he said.
Source: DN
