The economy minister, António Pires de Lima, expects that a decision will be made by the Council of Ministers to select the buyer for TAP during the first half of June.
Deciding then that ‘loose talk costs lives’, the minister added "This process is now entering a delicate stage and I should be sparing in my comments because any statement can be interpreted and used against the national interest by either of the two competitors."
Pires de Lima then continued, but only to have a go at socialist leader António Costa, saying that Costa was a political opportunist by using the privatisation of TAP as part of his manifesto pledge to halt all privatisations and reverse recent ones such as TAP.
The economy minster reiterated that "it is very important that TAP is privatised", explaining that the alternative scenario "is one of great loss" for the company in terms of routes and its capacity to compete.
The Council of Ministers decided yesterday to continue negotiations with Germán Efromovich and David Neeleman, and to drop Miguel Pais do Amaral’s non-binding bid as the Portuguese entrepreneur wanted another month to six weeks to make a full offer for the state airline.
Pires de Lima, said that the government will continue to work to protect the "interests of TAP and Portugal."
The minister may wish not to comment further on the current bids but the media seem surprisingly well informed as to the details of the deals offered by the two South American-based airline companies.
There is a danger that the public will be led by press speculation into picking a favourite in a process which should be, due to its sensitive nature, carried out behind closed doors by the team from Parpública and the Treasury.
Can the process be stopped?
On Tuesday, the anti-privatisation organisation ‘Peço a Palavra’ presented a complaint in Brussels to halt the privatisation process.
The association complained to the European Commission in an injunction on the grounds of irregularities in the tender documents.
The aim is that Brussels will start an action against Portugal in the European Court of Justice.
"The European Union may sue the Portuguese state or compel the state to correct the resolution that regulates the specifications," said Bruno Fialho, of the association which last week also filed an injunction against the privatisation of TAP in the Portuguese courts.
