Lisbon, Aug. 28, 2026 (Lusa) - The minister of the economy and territorial cohesion warned on Friday in Lisbon that Portugal must learn to live with less European funding and to channel a larger share of the state budget towards investment.
«Portugal must prepare to start allocating a larger share of the state budget to public investment,» said Castro Almeida in Lisbon at the press conference where the 100% implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) was announced.
The minister described the fact that public investment had relied on European funds as «inevitable», arguing that it would be beneficial for the country to allocate a larger share of the state budget to this area.
«There will be less money from European funds,» he insisted.
The minister had already confirmed that Portugal had met the deadline for implementing the plan, given that all reforms have been fully implemented, the milestones and targets have been fully met, and more than €16 billion in funding has been secured.
However, he pointed out that the loan component, which stands at around €5.5 billion, will also be fully implemented, «barring any unforeseen circumstances».
Castro Almeida assured that during the implementation of the PRR, the Government received many warnings, notably from the National Monitoring Committee, and that these were heeded, taking due account of the dangers and risks.
«Our job was to implement the programme and deliver results. The main objective is to ensure that the money the European Commission has made available to Portugal will be fully invested […] and there was a risk that this might not happen. There were hundreds of thousands of projects. The number of agencies involved in implementation was enormous. This was the largest public administration project ever,» he stated.
The deadline for implementing the PRR, set by Brussels, expires on Monday.
The PRR is designed to implement a series of reforms and investments with a view to restoring economic growth.
As well as aiming to repair the damage caused by Covid-19, this plan is intended to support investment and create jobs.
PE/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
