Mini-reshuffle in Portuguese government after airline scandal
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Portuguese PM Antonio Costa has announced a mini-reshuffle in his Cabinet after after a scandal related to payments at a national airline that ‘shocked’ the nation.
In the midst of a crisis involving severance pay given by TAP Air Portugal, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Monday that two new ministers would be appointed to the government.
The case, which was made public by the media, “shocked the nation,” the socialist government of Portugal’s prime minister declared at a press conference.
Last Monday, Minister Pedro Nuno Santos resigned in response to the findings regarding the Portuguese carrier.
He was viewed by the Socialist Party of Portugal as one of the leading candidates to succeed Costa.
Portugal’s newly-appointed head of Treasury has stepped down, the finance ministry said, her resignation following a public backlash over a hefty severance pay she had received from state-owned airline TAP that was bailed out with taxpayer money.
Coming amid a cost-of-living crisis affecting millions in Portugal and Europe, the case of Alexandra Reis has embarrassed the Socialist government of Prime Minister Antonio Costa since the Correio da Manha newspaper reported about the 500,000-euro ($531,450) compensation earlier this month.
Opposition parties have sharply criticised the government’s lax hiring practices and demanded that Reis be sacked and return the money paid by TAP over ceasing her functions as a board member on mutual agreement last February.
Reis, who only took over the Treasury department on Dec. 2, argued she had demanded what she was legally entitled to, as the government and the airline later confirmed.
Finance Minister Fernando Medina said in a statement released just before midnight on Tuesday that he had asked Reis to present her resignation as treasury secretary, “which she promptly accepted”.
