The BE, PCP and PEV bills for nationalization of TAP were today rejected by the Assembly of the Republic, with votes against PS, PSD, CDS-PP, PAN (except in the PEV proposal), Liberal Initiative and Enough.
During the debate in which she defended the public control of the airline, BE deputy Isabel Pires pointed out that TAP already has “an ongoing restructuring, under scrutiny, without strategy, without the Government acting, unlike unions and the commission of workers”.
The deputy also denounced that while there are redundancies at Groundforce, “advertisements for temporary work companies for the same service come out”, as well as at TAP “hundreds of people” were “dismissed before the company resorted to the simplified ‘lay- Off'”.
“While private shareholders create smoke screens, the Government focuses its efforts on a negotiation in which the other party is not interested,” said the deputy, and added later that “if the State pays, it must order”, to paraphrase statements by the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos.
Through the PCP, which also proposed the nationalization of the company, deputy Bruno Dias classified TAP as having “crucial importance as a flag company and an instrument of national sovereignty”, having to fulfill “its role in territorial cohesion, in exports, in tourism, in articulation with national production, in the valorization of company workers ”.
“The State is only authorized by Brussels to defend TAP on the condition of dismissing workers and abandoning routes”, denounced the deputy, saying that TAP “cannot be at the mercy of the impositions of the European Union” and that the company’s problem “does not it’s the workers and their rights, it’s the economic groups and their interests ”.
José Luís Ferreira, from the PEV, defending nationalization, pointed out that TAP “did not present any significant problems, until in 2007, the disastrous 100% purchase of VEM Brasil (Varig Engenharia e Manutenção)” occurred, which caused higher losses to 500 million euros.
On the other hand, the Liberal Initiative (IL) presented a draft law so that the use of public funds in TAP is dependent on the prior approval of the Assembly of the Republic, “in the name of transparency and the defense of Portuguese money”, which was rejected with votes against PS, PSD, BE, PCP, PEV and the non-registered deputy Joacine Katar Moreira.
IL deputy João Cotrim de Figueiredo said that his party does not share “the fascination of having a public aviation company”, and suggested to those who have an “emotional connection to the company” the investment of “their money, not the money of Portuguese ”.
Through PSD, deputy Cristóvão Norte stated that “many Portuguese people wonder if it makes sense to put taxpayers’ money at the service of something that chronically damages”, having been “cheated” in 2016, with the renationalization of the company.
“All of this was an unparalleled hoax and perhaps one of the most ruinous businesses in history,” said the deputy, considering that “the State paid to pretend it was in charge, when it was not sending anything”, celebrating “a shareholder agreement that eliminated any trace of control by the State ”.
João Gonçalves Pereira, from CDS-PP, said that the balance sheet of the privatization of TAP, in 2015, still in the PSD / CDS-PP Government, meant “more fleet, more destinations, more passengers, more economic value in the company, more volume of business, and one thing the left likes so much: more social peace in the company ”.
André Ventura, from Chega, said that the renationalization of the company by the PS Government “allowed everything and its opposite to benefit”, adding later that “the time for nationalization is over”.
According to the PAN, André Silva said that he would follow the proposals of the ENP and the Liberal Initiative, but not that of the PCP and BE, alerting the State “to have to pay compensation to private shareholders”, which in PAN’s opinion is unnecessary for ensure control of the company.
Non-registered deputy Joacine Katar Moreira said that “it was a mistake to relinquish public control over TAP”, warning of the need to regain public control of the company in a context of “climate emergency”.
Congressman Carlos Pereira, from the PS, considered the diplomas in debate today “redundant and out of time”, considering that the debate “undermines the negotiation” between the State and the private shareholder in the context of State aid to the company of a maximum of 1,200 millions of euros.
Carlos Pereira also made the private shareholder responsible for the exclusion of the aid mechanism provided for in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, which “was not possible […], because TAP’s accounts at 31 December 2019 had a balance sheet with negative share capital of 600 million euros ”, a situation of“ technical bankruptcy of the private responsibility ”.
The company has been in an aggravated financial situation since the beginning of the crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic, with the operation almost completely paralyzed, and will receive a capital injection that can reach 1,200 million euros.
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