"We think that Lusa is like air, it's there and no one talks about it. Lusa has been talked about more from November last year until now than probably in recent years and that was good. In reality, what is happening is that the media, private or commercial, has no capacity, no sustainability", said Joaquim Carreira.

The president of Lusa was speaking at a seminar on "The challenges of the press and the Portuguese Language market", organized by the Portuguese Press Association (APImprensa), at the Fado Museum, in Lisbon, where Lusa signed a protocol for the transfer of content with the entity that represents 255 titles, from 174 associates.

According to Joaquim Carreira, citing data from the Regulatory Authority for Social Communication (ERC), 4% of media companies have 88% of sales in Portugal, 83% of profits, indicating that the agency has more than 500 customers with "very small fees".

"Lusa depends on the State for 14.7 million euros, because the State had to intervene more last year, otherwise it would have a problem at the level of workers due to inflation. It could not really expect the private sector to be compensated for this amount. We are talking about around 700 thousand euros in a year. This had a big impact, it had an impact that you felt. There was a strike. We had four days of strike, it was that part of the day when there was a noise of total silence, that there was no news to fall", he stressed.

Joaquim Carreira noted that the average state intervention, considering RTP and Lusa, is set at 26 euros per person.

"The State in Portugal is not very interventionist. (...) I don't know if you know, for example, how much it is in Finland or Sweden. We are talking about values ​​above 120 euros [per person]. And it is not because of that that they do not have democracy, it is not because of that that the intervention of the State is harmful. What matters here, to reflect on, is the link between the executive part and the supervisory part. Lusa does not have this and should have it for the future", he stressed.

The Program of the XXIV Constitutional Government foresees the maintenance of the State's majority position in the Lusa agency, as well as "resolving the impasse in its shareholder structure".

In the document delivered on April 10 to the Assembly of the Republic, the government program led by Luís Montenegro says it intends to "maintain the State's majority position in the Lusa Agency, contributing to a public information service of rigor, seriousness and quality".

The executive also intends to "clarify the situation of the Lusa agency and resolve the impasse in its shareholder structure in a balanced, impartial manner and involving all agents in the sector".

Lusa is 50.15% controlled by the Portuguese State, with Global Media holding a 23.36% stake and Páginas Civilizadas 22.35%.

The previous Government, led by António Costa, intended to move forward with the purchase of these stakes from Global Media and Páginas Civilizadas, but the deal would end up failing.

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