The President of Portugal, Rebelo de Sousa, in recent days did not sign the government decree on the privatization of the national carrier Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (Tap), blocking it and sending the text back to Parliament. The reason? The lack of transparency and some doubts regarding the future role of the State within the airline's management company. Urgent clarification requested so as not to delay the 51% transfer procedure.

The decree "has raised many doubts" which "can be clarified without too many delays, without compromising the urgency of the procedure". Clarifications are needed "on the future effective monitoring and intervention capacity of the State, since the decree neither foresees nor expressly allows, in subsequent administrative decisions, any role for the State", stated President de Sousa.

The main problem is the fact that the text of the draft law allows the TAP airline management to "sell or acquire, even before the purchase and sale decision, any type of asset, without the slightest precision or criterion", and therefore "it is not guaranteed full transparency", he concluded. Among the main contenders for the sale of Tap are: the Germans Lufthansa, the Franco-Dutch Air France-KLM Group, the IAG Group, and a consortium of Portuguese entrepreneurs.

On the same topic, see also the article published by AVIONEWS.