A commission of the Chamber of Deputies discussed this Wednesday the possibility of Brazil becoming a shareholder in TAP, in a hearing with the Brazilian Minister of Tourism and a representative of the Portuguese airline.
The deputy of the Workers’ Party (PT), Washington Quaquá, who requested a debate of approximately an hour and a half, maintained that Brazil should “acquire a piece, through national resources”, together with European or Portuguese partners, to be able “build with the Portuguese State a shareholder solution to control TAP that benefits” Brazilian interests.
Washington Quaquá did not give details about how this possible investment would be made, nor dates, nor potential European or Portuguese partners.
In the presentation of this commission, on the website of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, it is indicated that the objective of the association would be to create an international hub at the Galeão airport, in Rio de Janeiro, and at the Humberto Delgado airport, in Lisbon. “for flights connecting Brazil, Portugal, Europe, Africa and Latin America.”
“I have already spoken with President Lula about this issue and I believe that we have all the conditions to sensitize President Lula on this issue,” highlighted the deputy, vice president of the Bloco Federação Brasil da Esperança, the party organization that supports the current Government.
“I have no doubt that he [Lula da Silva] will support this process of association with the Portuguese State,” he stated, adding that there is no one better to be a partner of Portugal, which “does not want, in fact, to alienate TAP without the guarantees that TAP remains important for the development strategy Portuguese.”
The Minister of Tourism of Brazil, Celso Sabino, who only attended the beginning of the commission, with greater caution, stated that he sees “the initiative of Congressman Washington Quaquá of this commission to discuss the possibility of greater interconnection between the Brazilian Government and TAP as a favorable measure”.
“Especially because we are all witnesses of what TAP has meant for Portugal when it comes to boosting the number of tourists, which this year should reach close to 28 million foreign tourists,” stressed Celso Sabino, who was in Lisbon on Friday, after meeting with the general director of TAP. Luís Rodrigues, to discuss the increase in connections between Brazil and Europe.
The Brazilian minister also recalled that the Portuguese airline is going through a period of financial restructuring, but that “despite the difficulties” he saw “a very organized, very efficient company, which contributed a lot” to increasing tourism in Portugal.
Present at the commission, the representative of TAP in Brazil and South America, João Roberto Leitão de Albuquerque Melo, stated that “the Portuguese Government is not opposed to a debate”, in a phase in which the airline company is in a “process of privatization analysis.”
But, he stressed, the debate “must be bilateral, carried out between the Government of Portugal and the Brazilian Government, or any company in which the Brazilian Government has a stake, or in the model that the Brazilian Government designs.”
Noting that his presence on the commission would be limited to the legal aspect because the company belongs to the Portuguese State and that it is “the Government that has the legitimacy to discuss these aspects with the Brazilian Government”, the TAP representative explained that, According to the regulations European Union, more than 50% of the capital of an aviation company in the European Union will have to be held by the capital of a Member State or a national of a Member State.
Source: TSF
