Portugal: Request to alter TAP flight with president aboard stupid, selfish – Marcelo

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Portugal: Request to alter TAP flight with president aboard stupid, selfish – Marcelo

4:21 CAT | 11 Apr 2023

File photo: Lusa

Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on Monday called the request to change a flight in March 2022 that would have the head of state as a passenger both “stupid and selfish”.

“It never crossed my mind that this idea would be both stupid and selfish. Stupid because only a very stupid politician would sacrifice 200 people for the sake of leaving a day earlier or a day later on a visit that is easily readjusted,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

The president added that it would also be a selfish idea and that, because of this, the presidency of the Republic “never contacted anyone about it”.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was speaking to journalists in the village of Valongo de Milhais, municipality of Murça, after being asked about the content of the controversial email from the former secretary of state for infrastructure, which became public in the parliamentary commission of enquiry into the management of TAP.

The head of state also stressed that when the question was put to the head of the presidential household on 11 February last year, it was explained “that it was nonsense”.

On Wednesday, the presidency office said in a written statement that it had never contacted TAP or any member of the government for a change of a return flight from Mozambique in March 2022.

“The presidency of the Republic has never contacted TAP, nor any member of the government on such a matter. The presidency never requested a change to a TAP flight, if this happened it was on the initiative of the travel agency,” the note, sent to Lusa news agency, reads.

In the same statement, the presidency said that “the president of the Republic travelled to Mozambique in March 2022” and that “the trip was handled by the usual travel agency, which took several steps and eventually found an alternative with TAAG, via Luanda, on 23 March, but the return from Mozambique ended up happening on 21 March 2022, on a regular TAP flight (TP182).

On Tuesday, at the parliamentary commission of enquiry into TAP, Liberal Initiative deputy Bernardo Blanco confronted Christine Ourmières-Widener with an email exchange with the then secretary of state for infrastructure, Hugo Mendes, about a possible change of date of a flight that had the head of state, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa as a passenger, which did not take place.

In his email to TAP’s CEO, Mendes argued that it was important to maintain political support for Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, considering that he was the government’s “main ally” but could become the “worst nightmare”.

Today the prime minister, speaking to Lusa news agency, said the email that former secretary of state Hugo Mendes sent to the chief executive of TAP about the head of state was extremely serious and said he would have forced his resignation on the spot.

Source: Lusa