"Contrary to what you say, we're not going to sell to any private individual. We will only privatize and sell part or all of the capital, taking into account the interests of the company, Portugal and the Portuguese people," he said.

The Prime Minister rejected any contradiction with his stance in 2015, when the government bought back TAP's capital, pointing out that, at that time, the restructuring plan negotiated with the European Commission already foresaw a future privatization of the company.

"From the outset we said that this was an intervention we were making and that it was not to remain `ad aeternum' as holders of 100% of the capital, but that we were doing it to respond to a crisis situation," he said.

Costa also defended his executive's decision to intervene in TAP in 2015, saying that if it hadn't, the intervention would have been "much greater", given the "crisis that hit all commercial aviation during the pandemic".

"We would have had to secure 100% of capital and not just the injection that was needed to save the company," he said.

In his opening speech in the debate, António Costa announced that the government will approve the law that will establish the framework for TAP's privatization process at the Council of Ministers on the 28th.

"As the European Commission recognizes, we are successfully implementing the restructuring plan and I can confirm that, next week, we will approve the diploma that establishes the framework for the privatization of TAP, defending the company and the interests of Portugal and the Portuguese," declared António Costa.

Earlier, at this point in his speech, the leader of the executive tried to point out that, last year, "TAP not only didn't make a loss, it made a profit".

"This year, 7.6 million passengers have already been transported in the first half of the year, reaching the figure of 96% of passengers transported in the pre-pandemic period" of covid-19, he added.