Privatization of TAP would save billions of euros, says Luis Montenegro

SDP leader Luis Montenegro said this Wednesday that billions of euros could be saved if the TAP privatization process, initiated by social democratic leader Passos Coelho, continued into 2016.

Luis Montenegro responded to the information provided this Wednesday by the Minister of Infrastructure Joao Galamba that the diploma on the TAP privatization process will be published in the summer.

“It is remarkable that it is the same government, the same people and the same main actors who wanted to nationalize the company, stopping the current privatization process in 2016, after seven years, after injecting more than four billion euros into the company. , return to the starting point,” Montenegro said, addressing reporters during a visit to Bairro Cidade Sol in Barreira as part of the “Sentir Portugal” initiative, which will last until Thursday in the Setubal region.

The PSD president also highlighted the fact that a private investor who in 2015 acquired an equity stake in TAP said that it was possible to save Portuguese taxpayers several billion euros with an option that the government could follow, just like other governments in the world followed. .

“The government, the prime minister, the infrastructure ministers and all those who support and support the socialist government in recent years wanted to nationalize the TAR when the nationalization process was running its course. We could save many billions of euros to the taxpayers’ treasury. ,” He said.

The Social Democrat leader also criticized Minister Joao Galamba for recent announcements about the location of the new airport, saying they prove everything is upside down.

The Minister of Infrastructure said this Wednesday that the distance between Santarém and Lisbon is not an obstacle to the construction of an airport in the capital Ribatejo, but confirmed that it is far and considered that these statements do not affect the technical commission.

For Luis Montenegro, “calmness must prevail” in this process, given that technical judgments should be left to the technicians and political decisions to the politicians.

“I do not think that an independent technical commission should announce the location of the airport. It is not the technical commission that will decide the location of the airport, it is the political power, it is the government. We will soon see, with or without the support of other parties, namely the Social Democratic Party, and political and state officials should not give technical opinions, because this distorts what lies at the basis of this understanding,” he said.