A parting gesture of unbridled generosity from the previous government run by Prime Minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, saw three directors of the National Authority of Civil Aviation receive huge salary increases in the last days of the government.
The rises, thoughtfully backdated to July 2015, were around 150% for Luís Ribeiro, Carlos Salgado and Lígia Fonseca, respectively the president of the ANAC Board of Directors, the Vice President and a Director.
Ribeiro will have to struggle by, in these times of national austerity, on €16,000 a month - up from a meager €6,030.
The Vice President, Carlos Salgado, was on a paltry €5,499 per month but can now relax with €14,468 pcm hitting his bank account.
Lígia Fonseca was on an embarrassingly low €5,142 but now can hold her head up high in the ranks of the elite with a far more appropriate €12,861 monthly sum.
ANAC, formerly the National Civil Aviation Institute, is the regulatory body for civil aviation and is responsible for certifying and approving procedures, equipment, organisations, aircraft and civil aviation infrastructure. Its jurisdiction covers Portugal’s national territory and airspace.
The three board members were nominated by members of the Passos Coelho government and started work last Summer.
The controversial nomination process did not best please the Recruitment and Selection Committee for Public Administration (Cresap) nor the Commission of Economy and Public Works of the National Assembly.
The salary level of the Directors was revised in October by the Remuneration Committee of ANAC, consisting of three elected members: Luís Manuel Santos Pires, chosen by the then Finance Minister Maria Luís Albuquerque; Eduardo Miguel Vicente de Almeida Cardadeiro chosen by Economy Minister António Pires de Lima; and Luís Antonio Fonseca de Almeida, chosen by the directors of ANAC.
Perhaps more concerning than the salaries was the Economics and Public Works Commission's report concluded that, "Luís Ribeiro has no experience in international matters and security. That is, we now run the risk of having a President of ANAC who is manifestly unprepared in civil aviation functions with their inherent risk."
Business as usual then...
