As defence minister Aguiar-Branco officially signed the Viana do Castelo shipyards over to industrial multinational Martifer, local mayor José Maria Costa staged a very personal protest, turning up at the ceremony with a funeral wreath.
His gesture served to show that ‘the man in the street’ is far from comfortable with the controversial deal struck by the coalition government.
Indeed, he claimed it signifies the death of naval construction in Portugal – and cast doubts as to its legality.
A number of legal processes have been filed with the Attorney General’s office, but a beaming José Pedro Aguiar-Branco brushed them all aside, saying there have been “no illegalities or irregularities whatsoever” and that there is certainly not a whiff of criminal culpability either.
Costa nonetheless is just one of many who are not so sure and is himself responsible for two of the legal cases questioning the deal’s legality.
Catarina Martins from the left-wing Bloco de Esquerda told members of the press that her party too will be appealing to the Public Prosecutor over the deal.
Meantime, workers left their shifts on Saturday in despair, many in tears, fearing for their jobs.
But Martifer spokesman Carlos Martins was buoyant. He said after the ceremony that his firm had every intention of creating up to 400 jobs – although, until now, they have hired only two of the shipyard’s 620 workers.
He also said his company was unfazed by legal concerns, and had a workforce in Aveiro to “assure work schedules” if legal issues held up production in Viana do Castelo.
Aguiar-Branco explained to reporters after the ceremony that the shipyards were “proof of the State’s failure in management”. “In the last 12 years, there have been 12 different administrations, 25 ships built – that’s two for every administration – and accumulated losses of over €100 million,” he said.
The deal with Martifer’s sub-concession West Sea will see the government receiving an annual rent of €415,000 until 2031.
Photo: Viana do Castelo Mayor José Maria Costa
