“In view of the applicable legal regime and the airport public service concession contracts signed with the Portuguese State, the privatization of ANA did not safeguard the public interest, due to non-compliance with its objectives”, reads the audit report carried out by the Court of Auditors (TdC) to the privatization of ANA, to which Lusa had access.

The sale of 100% of the capital of ANA Aeroportos à Vinci was initiated in 2012 and concluded in 2013 by the PSD/CDS-PP Government led by Pedro Passos Coelho, as part of a privatization package that also included CTT, REN or TAP, in the latter case later partially reversed by the next PS Government (with parliamentary support from PCP, BE and PEV), led by António Costa.

At that time, Portugal was the target of a financial assistance program negotiated between the ‘troika’ and the Government.

According to the TdC's audit report on the privatization of ANA, whose rapporteur was judge advisor José Manuel Quelhas and which was approved on December 21, “the materialization of the main risks identified” leads to the conclusion that “the exposure of the Portuguese State to the execution risks related to the sale process, “having not ensured that the framework of this process would fully protect national interests”.

The TdC also concluded “that the financial income resulting from the sale of shares representing ANA's share capital was not maximized” and “there was no reinforcement of ANA's competitive position, growth and efficiency, to the benefit of the aviation sector Portuguese civil society, the national economy and the users of airport structures managed by ANA”.

In January last year, the president of the TdC, José Tavares, said, in a parliamentary hearing, that the institution planned to deliver two reports on the audit to ANA requested by the Assembly of the Republic, one on the privatization of the airport management company in the first half of the year and another on the management of the company until the end of 2023.

The objective of the audit was to examine, in light of the applicable laws and the concession contracts signed, whether the privatization of ANA safeguarded the public interest, through the fulfillment of its objectives, which were the “maximization of financial income”, the “strengthening of the competitiveness, growth and efficiency of ANA, for the benefit of the Portuguese civil aviation sector, the national economy and the users of airport structures managed by ANA”, as well as the “minimization of the State’s exposure to execution risks”.