22/09/2008 01:55
Buenos Aires Herald - Nota - Argentina
- Pág.3
PROC S OF RENATIONALIZATION
Morales blasts govt stance
Radical Party head Gerardo Morales yesterday
criticized the government's handling of
the renationalization of Aerolíneas
Argentinas, previously owned by the Marsans
Spanish group.
"Marsans are preparing a multimillion
trial against the government," the
deputy said, adding that, "Unfortunately,
the government couldn't have possibly done
things worse." "Over the next
few weeks the government will have to expropriate
the struggling airlines (Aerolíneas
Argentinas and sister domestic airline Austral)
in the worst possible conditions,"
Morales said.
In July last, the government of Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner signed an agreement
with the Spanish consortium Marsans to buy
back Aerolíneas Argentinas and Austral,
privatized during former president Carlos
Menem's first term in office and now laden
with a 890-million-peso debt. The process
of renationalization of Aerolíneas
Argentinas and Austral, now that both arc
turning heavy losses and have been subjected
to asset stripping by private concessionaires,
was approved by Congress last month.
"An agreement (to revert ownership
hack to the Argentine state) could not be
achieved because they (Marsans) requested
hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.
Therefore, Congress is now unwilling to
vote for the plan to give them compensation,
not one single peso," the party leader
said in a communiqué.
"Let this corneas a warning to the
two parties mostly responsible for such
a situation, which only weakens the State's
position - (Planning Minister) Julio De
Vido and (Transport Secretary) Ricardo Jaime,"
Morales said.
"It was the government itself which
did all it could to generate this legal
weakness situation, and now Marsans find
themselves in a position to file a multimilliondollar
suit against the Argentine government,"
he concluded.
Herald staff with DyN
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