On the morning of December 24 of last year, the Portuguese received a poisoned gift, as if it were designed to fuel indignation at family after-dinner meals. It was published by the most widely read newspaper, the sensationalist Correio da Manhã. Its full truth was soon confirmed. The newly appointed Secretary of State for the Treasury, Alexandra Reis, had received half a million euros in compensation for leaving the public airline TAP at her own request, in which she promoted severe adjustments.
It was the beginning of a political gale, as if a fleet of planes had flown over Lisbon's Plaza del Comercio, the symbol of Portuguese political power, leaving behind a devilish whirlwind of wind.
When not even five months have passed, two state secretaries have already fallen for the TAP, starting with Reis herself, as well as Pedro Nuño Santos, head of Infrastructure. He was one of the star ministers and presumed candidate of the ruling Socialist Party (PS) apparatus for the eventual succession of Prime Minister António Costa. The substitute, João Galamba, saved by Costa in a public confrontation with the President of the Republic, the conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is more than in the pillory. And another heavyweight is touched, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, Costa's favorite as a dolphin.
In the midst of a great wear and tear on the PS, which from its absolute majority 16 months ago has gone on to drop more than 10 points in the polls, the TAP dossier, as they would say in Portugal, constitutes pure dynamite. In addition, it adds to the deterioration of the Government on other fronts, such as health, with a post-pandemic crisis surely more intense than the Spanish one that took the Minister of Health ahead.
TAP appears in the 67th position of the best airlines in the world. But if the symbolic weight that each one has in their country were measured, it would climb many places. It operates in the skies but treasures a marine base. It appears as the heir to the oceanic exploratory feats of more than five centuries ago that in a certain way made this small Atlantic country, as Portugal likes to claim, a pioneer of globalization. It also refers to the important overseas empire, especially Africa, that the dictatorship maintained until almost half a century ago, when Europe had already given up the vast majority of these anachronistic colonial possessions. And it represents the direct link of the country of origin with its vast communities of emigrants and descendants.
This strategic nature for national interests became the main argument for the State to recover the majority in 2016, in Costa's first government, in a parliamentary alliance with the Left Bloc and the communists. It was about partially reversing the privatization that the troika had ordered during the international rescue of Portugal. Thus, in 2016 the State went from 35% to 50% in the shareholding, with 5% of the workers, although private management was maintained. Then the pandemic led to complete nationalization, with a rescue plan of 3,200 million.
Now the Government has started the reprivatization plan. In 2022 TAP had 65.6 million profits, but in the first quarter of this year there were 57.4 million losses, although it represents slightly less than half that in the same period of 2022.
In March António Costa dismissed the CEO of TAP Christine Ourmières-Widener for the compensation to Alexandra Reis. Before the company had rectified to clarify that he had not left at his own request, but because of his differences with his boss. In any case, Reis is going to have to return 450,000 euros of the half million in compensation, as ruled by the General Inspectorate of Finance of Portugal.
In the parliamentary investigation commission, a type of body that in Portugal tends to bear more fruit and is taken more seriously than in Spain, traces of more cases similar to Reis's have already appeared, although complete information is awaited. about them.
Ourmières-Widener's appearance ended up being radioactive, because according to the then adviser to Minister Galamba Frederico Pinheiro, the socialist questions and answers were rehearsed. Galamba immediately stopped him and the grotesque began. Pinheiro wanted to take his computer from the ministry, which was prevented by members of the cabinet. He tried to get out by hitting the glass door of the ministry with his bicycle. Even the secret services intervened in the recovery of the computer. However, Costa did not want to hand over the head of Minister Galamba. Nor does he consider doing it with his protégé Fernando Medina, who appointed Reis Secretary of State for the Treasury.
Everything now revolves around the commission of inquiry, at the end of which there could even be elections, although it is more likely that they will wait until after the European ones.
