Commission of Inquiry into ANA Privatization Failed

The commission of inquiry into the privatization of the ANA, proposed by the PKP, failed this Wednesday, with the SDP, PS and CDS voting against.

Chega abstained from voting. PCP, BE, Livre, IL and PAN voted in favour.

Paulo Raimundo previously stressed that the Court of Auditors report on the privatization of ANA, published in January, “points to a forecast that the state has suffered at least 20 billion euros in damage and even points to signs of corruption.”

During a debate on the proposal in parliament on Tuesday, PCP MP António Filipe said an investigation was necessary because the contours of the deal were “completely hidden from the Portuguese people.”

Among the various aspects of the deal that he felt it necessary to clarify, the MP highlighted the fact that the Court of Audit report on the privatization of ANA, published in January, revealed that the sale was carried out for 1.127 million euros, representing “just over a third” of the amount , announced by the government, at 3,080 million.

“There are three issues that need to be investigated here: the political responsibility of those who lied to the Portuguese people, the financial responsibility of Vinci, who may have received an illegal discount, and the responsibility of those who offered this discount,” he said.

However, this proposal drew criticism from all right-wing PS parties. PSD MP Gonzalo Lage joked that when he learned that the PCP was going to propose a commission of inquiry, he thought it would be about the nationalization of EFACEC, as a result of which “300 million euros of taxpayers’ money disappeared and no one really understood what it was” . not even how.”

“It’s a strange world where some of us prefer to prioritize cases where the government creates value for taxpayers over cases where the government destroys value for taxpayers,” he said, arguing that the country benefited from the sale of ANA.

CDS parliamentary leader Paulo Nuncio also criticized the PKP proposal, accusing the party of intending to discuss “privatization with a 10-year deadline due to an ideological choice” and of wanting to “renationalize everything that moves.”

In turn, PS deputy Hugo Costa stressed that the party has always criticized the privatization of ANA, but said that this issue should be “discussed and formulated more comprehensively,” expressing its readiness within the framework of the parliamentary committee on the economy to approve and hold all hearings on the topic.

“The establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry in such circumstances would not allow for comprehensive monitoring of the topic, since the facility would naturally be closed, without taking into account the current and future debates on the national airport network, and its creation would be ill-timed,” he ruled.

As for Chegi, MP Filipe Melo said that in principle his party would not oppose the PKP proposal as it favors verification. However, he accused the communists of taking the initiative to “show that they are still alive” and of wanting to renationalize “everything that moves.”

IL MP Carlos Guimarães Pinto also said that his party will not vote against the proposal as it stands for transparency, but believes that the suspicions underlying the initiative are “contaminated by the ideological bias of the PCP.”

In contrast, BE MP Isabel Pires noted that thanks to the Court of Auditors report, it became “absolutely clear that the privatization of ANA took into account only the interests of private individuals,” stressing that the party would vote for the communist proposal. because we cannot stop at “vain indignation.”

Livre MP Jorge Pinto compared the PKP proposal with Cega’s proposal for a parliamentary investigation into the case of the Portuguese-Brazilian twins, considering that the case discussed today is that “it stops the country” and “delays the decision to build a new airport.”

At the end of the debate, PCP deputy António Filipe found it “somewhat surprising” that there had been “a convergence of votes between the PS and PSD to prevent a commission of inquiry.”