State support for TAP will mean more say in major decisions

Portugal’s minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Pedro Nuno Santos, said on Wednesday that any injection of state funds in the national airline, TAP, “will imply” the government having more of a say in major decisions at the company in the near future.

“Any intervention by the sovereign state in TAP will imply that the Portuguese state, through the government, will accompany all decisions … taken in the near future with a major impact on the life and future of the company,” said the minister, who added that ways of supporting TAP are being studied.

“It is another story now with regard to TAP,” Santos said, in a reference to the fact that the state has only 50% of the company’s shares and does not have control over its day-to-day management. He stressed that the airline, “without public intervention, has no chance of surviving” in the current unprecedented crisis for the sector.

“It is good that we are all aware that our mission will be to save TAP and not any particular shareholder,” he said. “Obviously we are ready and interested in our partners in the company accompanying any intervention in the company, but they must accompany” it by injecting funds in line with their shareholdings.

Otherwise, he warned, this would “necessarily have consequences on the corporate relationship” in the company.

Santos was testifying before parliament’s committee on economy, innovation, public works and housing, as part of a regular hearing.