PSD: «For the Algarve, neither TAP, nor TAPzinha or TAPzona»

"This true national anecdote and scandal entail very high opportunity costs for our entrepreneurs and for the region"

«For the Algarve, neither TAP, nor TAPzinha or TAPzona». This is how the regional PSD comments on the recent approval of the restructuring plan for the Portuguese airline that "has given up on the Algarve, but does not give up on taxes on the Algarve". 

In a note sent to the press, the Social Democrats consider that, "in a sense opposite to what was publicly assumed by various members of the Government, including Minister Pedro Nuno Santos, the Algarve does not even deserve a footnote" in this plan of restructuring.

The region is doomed “to absolute contempt and without TAP, which is said to carry the flag of all of us, endeavoring to have a presence more than merely caricatural in the region”, he adds.

For Cristóvão Norte, deputy and president of the PSD Algarve, «TAP is not an agent of development in the Algarve: it never was and never will be».

«It is reduced to rubble in the Algarve and the only route it has – Lisbon – is for the mere convenience of Lisbon, it does not exist due to the interest of the Algarve. But we continue to pay tithing, like good servants to a bankrupt master. We demand the same as Porto, the reinforcement of funds to attract routes to the region», he adds.

«We've already done the math: if Rui Moreira says that, in view of the movement at Porto airport, they are entitled to 100 million a year, then the Algarve is entitled to 90. We are neither more nor less than Lisbon or Porto, but the country is not it can waste the Algarve's potential and this Government insists on doing so. Once again, the region most affected by the crisis is the one with the least support”, he says.

Luís Gomes, head of the list for the PSD, agrees: «TAP's strategy for the Algarve, over the last few decades, has only been to fulfill a supposed patriotic calendar whose interest and service can legitimately be questioned».

For the social democrat, «the socialist flag in nationalizing TAP not only further dented the possibility of the company remaining alive, but almost aggravated its service to the Algarve. It must be borne in mind that, as the Algarve is one of the most important tourist destinations in Portugal, Europe and the world, it is absolutely ridiculous that there is no TAP international flight that has the airport of Faro».

“This true national anecdote and scandal entail very high opportunity costs for our entrepreneurs and for the region. Being a candidate for deputy forces us to compromise or when we are not able to do so, we must come face to face. Unfortunately, we have not seen or read any comment on this matter by the deputies elected by the Socialist Party. Truth and commitment will make the difference we want to make in the Assembly of the Republic», he concludes.

 



Comments

Ads