Portugal’s former railway authority REFER and road company Estradas de Portugal have merged in a move widely heralded by the government and management as being based on the huge cost savings that will be achieved.
To celebrate this new period of cost reductions and a concentration on analysing every part of the merged business to see where further savings can be made to the taxpayers' benefit, a party costing a conservative €130,000 has been thrown for at least 1,300 guests.
The June 5th event to ‘present the brand new company - Infraestruturas de Portugal,' cost taxpayers at least €130,000 in direct costs to which can be added the cost of having staff absent from their posts and their travel costs to and from the venue at the National Railway Museum.
Many were surprised to be ‘entertained’ by a comedian but will have appreciated the free buffet and drinks paid for by the taxpayer in an evening of fun and companionship.
Gameiro Jorge, the president of the General Council of the National Union of Railway Workers, said that there were between 1,300 to 1,500 people present and that the whole event was an aberration at this time of austerity and wage constraint.
As the party was being paid for by the taxpayer, the costs are a matter of public record with Deep Step Consultores de Comunicação e Relações Públicas costing €85,000, Maria Papoila – Sociedade de Comidas e Bebidas Lda., €22,000, for drinks and for the “production of advertising materials” €17,547.
There are more expenses to come but this must be one of the most ill-advised parties since the one the week before when Paulo Portas attended a celebration of EC agricultural grants which cost at least €15,000 with nobody willing to admit which public budget it came out of.
The management of these now merged public bodies needs urgently to explain why it was thought necessary to spend (a conservative estimate) €170,000 of taxpayers’ money on a party to celebrate cost savings.
On the plus side, REFER no longer exists and it is hoped that many of its directorate, undeniably the most arrogant, supercilious and spiteful in Portugal's public sector, did not make the transition to the board of Infraestruturas de Portugal.
