"The benefits of privatisation are obvious. From 2014 until now we have had an average annual growth of 10%, 10.7% when compared to the previous decade, which was 4.5%", said the president of the ANA Executive Committee, stressing that the result "is a notable benefit of privatisation".

Thierry Ligonniére stated that he could not agree with the conclusions of the Court of Auditors' audit of the privatisation of ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal released last week.

"Obviously we cannot agree" and this "is written in our presentations [in the contradictory of the audit report]", he said, adding that the "evolution of connectivity, ANA's own productivity" or the values achieved, "prove" that the deal was not harmful.

The Court of Auditors concluded that the privatisation of ANA, which took place in 2013, did not safeguard the public interest, due to non-compliance with its objectives, such as minimizing the State's exposure to execution risks.

On the other hand, the Court of Auditors considered that da Vinci's offer to purchase ANA was overvalued, with no “robust evidence” of having presented the best technical proposal, and that the State prioritised short-term financial savings.