Portugal signs PRR operational agreement this week | European Union
Portugal will sign the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) operational agreement before Brussels later this week, Finance Minister João Leão announced on Monday.
With the signature of this contract with Brussels, the country is able to request the first disbursement of the program, in the amount of 636 million euros. “We expect this request very soon,” said the minister, who declined to set a precise date.
After Spain, France, Italy and Greece, Portugal will be the fifth to formalize the provisions that open the door to regular PRR packages and country the program at speed. “We are at the forefront, as one of the first of the 27 member states to apply for disbursement. We already have the conclusion of the first part and therefore we are ready to start the program with the order”, said João Leão.
It is recalled that the country already had access, in August, to a pre-financing of 2.2 billion euros (corresponding to 13% of the total financial envelope) after the approval, by the Council of the EU, of the program of reforms and That until August 2.7 billion euros (2.7 billion euros) financed by the Government will be financed.
So far, 22 Member States have seen their respective PRR validated by the European Commission and approved by the Council of the EU — of the remaining five, the Netherlands have not yet submitted their proposal to Brussels alone. Sweden and Bulgaria could receive the green light later this quarter. Regarding the plans authorities- by Hungary and Poland, with maintenance between the European authorities without data for.
To the last one, for what could be his participation in the Eurogroup meeting, in case he is not reappointed, João Leão stressing the importance of one of the items on the agenda, concerning the process of reviewing the rules of economic governance and the The European Union’s Stability and Growth Pact — a discussion that, this Monday, has the intervention of five new finance ministers, namely from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria and Luxembourg, almost all of the countries that make up the bloc as “frugal”.
“That’s a beautiful title. Frugality was considered a new responsible for the portfolio of the Netherlands, Sigrid Kaag contradicting the Dutch policy after the paradigm shift in the role of the new executive.
According to João Leão, the review of budgetary rules is “fundamental” and “urgent”, since it will be necessary to ensure that Member States “have the margin to make the investments that are necessary to guarantee the recovery of the pandemic crisis and respond to the challenge of combating climate change”.
“In the coming times, important for a good coordination of economic policies, they are broader and more adapted to public growth, which are better adapted to the specific situation of countries, specifically the level of debt”, said the minister. “We need rules that ensure the sustainability of public finances, but cuts that do not impose the sustainability of the blind who add to economic growth,” he added.
In this chapter, the finance minister arrived in Brussels wired with positive numbers. “Portugal will be one of the countries with the biggest economy in 2022”, with growth forecast of a projected growth for a GDP of almost 6%, calculated. “It’s a historic growth, never reached in the last decades”, he pointed out.
João Leão also said that the extraordinary measures taken by the Government in December to contain the expansion of the variant omicronand which affect other sectors of commerce and tourism, will not all have an impact on the performance of the economy. “The many phases indicate that Portugal managed to resist well the new phase that is expected.
“In relation to public debt, we are going to have a historic reduction from 135% to approximately 127%, which Portugal has compared to many other countries in terms of debt. In public accounts, the deficit will also be lower than expected”, she stressed.