According to SAPO news, "The Council of Ministers approved the resolution of the Council of Ministers that mandates the Ministry of Finance and Parpública to carry out the independent evaluations of TAP," Medina said at a joint press conference with Infrastructure Minister João Galamba.

Medina pointed out that these two independent financial evaluations are "mandatory, by law, under the Privatisation Law, as a precondition to the privatisation process of the company."

"This resolution has this importance of mandating the Ministry of Finance to carry out the acts that are necessary to determine what is the evaluation of the company," explained the head of the Finance portfolio. "The Government will later be empowered to approve and define the following legal pieces, scrupulously complying with what is determined by the legislation."

Regarding the calendar, Fernando Medina said that the expectation of the Government is to approve the decree-law by July that will begin the privatisation of TAP, followed by the approval of a resolution in the Council of Ministers that will define the terms of the process and the specifications.

According to Fernando Medina, questions about what percentage of TAP will be privatised or whether any minimum financial income will be established by the State under the privatisation process "can only be decided by the Government after the independent evaluations of the value of the airline have been completed."

"In this framework, we will do everything scrupulously complying with the steps that the law determines, not anticipating what the law determines should not be anticipated. These questions will be answered in the decree-law and, subsequently, in the resolution of the Council of Ministers that will succeed it shortly after, where the general terms of privatisation and the specifications of privatisation will be fixed, "said the Minister of Finance.

With regard to the documentation on the resignations of the former presidents of the airline, which has already been received today by the commission of inquiry, Fernando Medina said that "the government always acts in the defence of the public interest", not only "providing the information that the committee that you can consult, but also signalling the reservation that a set of documents must have, in the very defence of that public interest."

"Commissions of inquiry are normal in a democratic state based on the rule of law," says the finance minister. "And therefore, no comment to be made on this progress of the commission of inquiry on what it intends to investigate."

Still, it does not fail to note that TAP has an "intrinsic value", recalling the "positive results that the company had in the year 2022", but also a "variable value, depending on each candidate" and a "value generated by the opportunities in terms of energy transition". It concludes that "these figures are not called into question, nor do they clash" with a commission of inquiry.

Answering the question of whether there are already possible interested parties for the purchase of TAP, João Galamba answered in the affirmative.

"TAP is a great company," said the Minister of Infrastructure. "It was already a big company because of its purely aeronautical dimension. In the context of the energy transition, this represents a potential for increased appreciation."

"The government has always made a speech in defence of the public interest and not using TAP as a political pitch," said João Galamba, stressing that the process initiated here is part of the defence of this "public interest," as well as "the interests of the State Portuguese in TAP."