Portuguese Communist Party condemns privatization of key state energy company
Porto, Portugal – At an event in Porto on July 4 attended by around 200 people, leaders of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) firmly condemned the privatization of a key state energy company, Efacec, to a German shareholder. Mutares, the German shareholder, submitted a bid to acquire a 71% ownership of the currently nationalized company that specializes in transformers, appliances and equipment, automation solutions and electric mobility.
The Communist Party leaders who spoke at the event said that this new privatization would deepen the process of deindustrialization and have a serious impact on the country's financial situation, negatively impacting the working class.
Paulo Raimundo, general secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party, spoke at the event in Porto, condemning the privatization and announcing actions the Communist Party will take to try to stop it. One action he said the party will take is that its members who are elected to the Assembly of the Republic will present a resolution there to try to block the imminent privatization.
Privatization and other harms inflicted on the Portuguese economy by multinational capital have resulted in one in five people leaving Portugal to work in richer countries – the highest emigration rate in the European Union.