Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is of the opinion that the government's planned re-privatization of Tap Air Portugal is too opaque. He blocked the decree that was supposed to formally launch the tender.

Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and IAG are considered interested in joining or taking over the Portuguese carrier. The government wants to sell at least 51 percent, but President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa refused to sign the decree that should have acted as a starting point.

The head of state justifies this step, among other things, by saying that he has some legal concerns and that, in his eyes, the government's planned approach would be too opaque. The fact that the EU Commission is examining Lufthansa's entry into Ita Airways in more detail and wants to have supplied an enormous amount of documents may also have played a role. He obviously wants to avoid such a scenario.

The President of Portugal is also of the opinion that the state's control and intervention options after partial privatization would be completely unclear. The current plan is for the state to continue to hold a minority share and to only accept offers that include a location guarantee for the Lisbon hub.

To date, potential interested parties such as Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and IAG have not yet been able to submit any offers. The reason for this is that the tender has not yet been formally issued. This recently failed due to the lack of signature from the President, who emphasized that he was not against the sale, but simply wanted to ensure “maximum transparency throughout the entire process”.