Montenegro in Brussels pledges Portugal will 'catch up' in execution ...

PM hoping for new tranche of funding by end of month

In Brussels this morning, Portugal’s prime minister designate Luís Montenegro has had to hit the ground running: the country’s execution of its PRR (Plan for Recovery and Resilience) is behind schedule, and a new tranche of funding is needed.

He told reporters: “I hope that we don’t (lose funds), albeit we know that some of the commitments that the (ceasing) Portuguese government made have not been complied with, which has led to delays in the payment of some tranches”.

Political leaders “do know that one (tranche) will be made available at the end of this month of March”, he said, adding “I hope there won’t be any problem with fulfilling the commitments that still depend exclusively on the government that is in office”.

The recently appointed PM added that he is already addressing questions as to “how to recover delays” in the execution of funding. 

“It was one of the matters on the table in our conversation today”, he said, referring to his early morning meeting with European Commissioner Ursula Von der Leyen – and it “will be a fundamental point of our action after we take over government.

“Sometimes, a very optimistic outlook is given about some dossiers and this is one of them, (but) the truth is that there are delays that were never recovered and there is also the desire that I have to be able to use this financing boost to be able to boost our economic activity in order to have a more lasting growth cycle and to be able to attract and retain talent in Portugal”, he went on.

The prime minister designate (a title that will stay until the new government is officially sworn into office) is in Brussels to participate in the European People’s Party summit. 

Source: LUSA