António José Seguro is concerned at the continuing instability over the future of state airline TAP and argues that the country should keep the carrier and develop it as a truly Lusophone brand.
The Secretary-General of the Socialist Party said the state should hold onto our 51% stake in TAP but sell smaller blocs of shares to airlines from Lusophone countries including Brazil, Mozambique and Angola.
Seguro was in the Algarve visiting the Aboim Ascensão childrens refuge and made the comments to reporters when asked what he would do with TAP as the government does not seem able to make its mind up whether to keep or sell the state asset.
Seguro admitted that TAP needs a capital injection, but saw no reason to sell it off entirely and suggested selling small parcels of shares as a solution, pooling capital from various Portuguese speaking countries.
The government indeed has displayed an impressive degree of dithering over the TAP sale as revenues have increased and the value of the company has gone up.
After the failure of the first attempt to sell TAP, ending in the rejection of an offer from Gérman Efromovich, the Passos Coelho government has delayed making any firm plans even though privatisation was stipulated in the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Troika in 2011.
In recent weeks, the legal and financial advisors to the government have continued their evaluation of TAP with a view to relaunching the sale process but the snail's pace continues.
Those currently said to be working on bids are viewed by many as chancers, including the Portuguese businessman Pais do Amaral who has been drawn into a partnership with the American union buster Frank Lorenzo.
