Government does not exclude renationalization option for CTT

It is thinking of each of the 10M Portuguese citizens that the government requires CTT to have at least one post office per municipality, the Minister of Infrastructures says, no matter what company’s ideas on the matter are.

“We were crystal clear during the last hearing (in Parliament). Despite being a private company, (the CTT) are still responsible for providing public service. And we, the State, are not here to sit and watch what a private company decides to do. We represent the 10M of Portuguese every time we sit and discuss with a company – always respecting the law”, the Minister Pedro Nuno Santos told MPs in the Economic Affairs Committee’s hearing.

“Regardless of the company’s will, there will be not a single municipality without at least one post office.” And it will be to ensure that that minimum is reached that the government will demand a renegotiation of the concession contract. If there is no negotiation appetite for that, “the Portuguese State does not exclude any scenario”, renationalization included.

The Minister, however, noted a change in the company’s attitude towards this issue, but that is not enough per se. “There is an obvious sign of a paradigm change, which has pleased us to hear it from the new CTT’s CEO. We have not reached what we were aiming for but it will be reached in due time”, the Minister said, reassuring that “it can be taken for granted” that “there will be no municipality in the country without a post office.”