TAP: Marcelo predicts enactment and rules out the possibility of the Government selling more capital

The President of the Republic stated that he plans to enact the TAP privatization decree and considers the possibility of the current government divesting more capital in the airline than the announced 49.9% to be ruled out. It remains to be seen whether he has the power to guarantee this scenario. In response to questions from journalists at a hotel in São Tomé, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa returned to this topic, which he had already commented on Friday, stating that "two misunderstandings arose, both interpretative."

"One is that because I vetoed the socialist bill, there could be a risk of a veto on this bill. Now, the bill itself, from what the Prime Minister explained to me and presented to the Council of Ministers, overcomes these difficulties," he said.

According to the head of state, in the decree he vetoed in 2023, by the then Socialist Party government, the problem "was that there was a phase, after all the proposals were known, based on transparency, in which contacts could have led to a result that had nothing to do with the previous phases of the process." "That doesn't happen. In fact, I must say that the previous government, in its attempt to change this, had no opportunity to do so," he added.

The President of the Republic pointed out as a “second doubt that arose” on this matter “whether there was not a mental reservation here on the part of the Government, in the sense that it now says that it will alienate X, under certain conditions, but at a distant or subsequent stage it may alienate more and alienate, under other conditions and so on”.

He then responded: "No. What we have is a proposed legal framework that will naturally be subject to review and enactment, which provides for several phases, but this process was announced." "And why several phases? Because some phases take time, and it must be anticipated that, for example, in the submission of applications, in the review of applications, in the right of interested parties to comment on applications, this will naturally take longer, hence the provision for a year," he continued.

According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, it is not the PSD/CDS-PP Government's intention to "then have a flic-flac and change the initial conditions."

When asked if he would enact the TAP privatization decree, the President of the Republic responded: "Well, if it is exactly along the lines of what I just explained, there is no reason why, given its importance to the country, it should not be allowed to pass."

When asked whether he considered the possibility of the State losing a majority stake in TAP to be ruled out, the head of state responded by stating that "that's what Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said." For the President of the Republic, with the current PSD/CDS-PP government, this isn't an issue. "In the future, we won't speculate about what would happen under another government, under different circumstances, in a different context, as you imagine," he emphasized.