Lisbon, July 10, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's Socialist Party leader said on Thursday the government’s decision on the reprivatisation of TAP was appropriate, but demanded that the company reimburse taxpayers for the €3 billion the state invested in it during the pandemic.
“TAP has to grow, and to grow, it needs to open up to international investors. That is why we believe that this is the right option. We also believe that Portugal should retain the majority of the shareholding structure, the majority of its capital, to ensure four key objectives,” said José Luís Carneiro in a statement at the PS headquarters in Lisbon.
The socialist leader did, however, make two demands on this issue, the first of which is that the privatisation conditions established by the government should remain unaltered by “any shareholders’ agreement” during the process.
The “second demand” is that the state must reimburse Portuguese taxpayers the €3 billion it invested in the company during the pandemic in the medium and long term, he said.
The PS leader criticised, however, the statement by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro when he said that the government intends to stop “throwing money into a bottomless pit”.
“I think the statement would be more accurate if it acknowledged that Montenegro’s statement, at a time when private investors are opening up TAP’s capital, could contribute to its depreciation rather than its appreciation as a strategic asset of the Portuguese state,” he said.
The government today approved the decree-law that initiates the process of reprivatising TAP, in which it intends to sell, in the first phase, 49.9% of the airline’s capital, the Prime Minister announced.
Luís Montenegro made a statement to journalists at the official residence in São Bento, during a cabinet meeting, without taking any questions.
The prime minister referred further details on this decree-law, which the government will “develop in due course with the presentation of the specifications”, to a press conference by the ministers of Finance and Infrastructure today at 5 p.m., and clarified the political objective.
“We have already spent a lot of money, and we intend to ensure every euro benefits the lives of the Portuguese people. We now choose to invest wisely rather than pour funds into an endless pit. We want the company to be profitable, well managed, competitive, financially sustainable and serving the strategic interests of the country,” he said.
JF/ADB // ADB.
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