SDP, CDS and PS against the Commission of Inquiry into the ANA Privatization Proposed by the PKP

The PSD, CDS and PS opposed on Tuesday the PKP’s proposal for a parliamentary inquiry into the 2013 privatization of ANA, with the Communists finding the vote match between the Socialists and Social Democrats “somewhat surprising”.

During the debate on this PCP proposal in Parliament, PSD MP Gonzalo Lage stated that when he learned that the Communists were going to propose the creation of a commission of inquiry, he thought that it would be about the nationalization of EFACEC, in which “300 million euros of taxpayers disappeared.” and no one really understood what and 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, saying the country benefited from the sale of ANA in 2013. which was completed by the PSD/CDS government led by Passos Coelho.

“We have 94% more passengers and 53% more movements than we had when ANA was public. We have more workers – we have 3,400 workers – and we have higher pay per worker: about 9% more than we paid when ANA was public,” he said.

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, Social Democratic Party MP Hugo Costa stressed that the party has always criticized the privatization of ANA, and stressed that the Court of Auditors report on the deal, published in January, “is devastating because it concludes that privatization did not serve the public interest “. .

However, the socialist said that this topic should be “discussed and formulated in more detail,” expressing his readiness within the parliamentary committee on economics to approve and hold all hearings on this 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 believes that thanks to the Court of Auditors report, it has become “absolutely clear that the privatization of ANA took into account only the interests of private individuals,” stressing that the party will 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 “postpones the decision to build a new airport”, announcing a vote in favor parties.

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.”

“When we all speak out against corruption, for transparency, and then, faced with such facts, deputies think that the Assembly of the Republic, instead of determining responsibility, should whistle into the air and think that everything is fine and that the privatization of ANA was very useful for the country… It is not: it is deeply harmful,” he said.