The European Commission has clarified that the ongoing political crisis in Portugal “has no direct implications” for the execution of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), emphasizing that the commitments are made by the country itself rather than the current government.
An official from the EU executive stated in response to the Lusa news agency that “the commitments under the PRR are the responsibility of the Member States, not individual governments. Hence, the political situation does not directly affect these commitments.”
As the end of the program approaches, which must be completed by the end of 2026, the European Commission confirmed to Lusa that “the review of the PRR is actively ongoing.”
This statement follows the presentation of a new proposal for revising the Portuguese PRR by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro’s government on February 1st, which is currently under evaluation by Brussels and is expected to be discussed by EU Finance Ministers during their regular meeting in May.
The Portuguese PRR totals 22.2 billion euros, comprising 16.3 billion euros in grants and 5.9 billion euros in loans sourced from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, encompassing 376 investments and 87 reforms.
To date, Portugal has received 8.49 billion euros in grants and 2.9 billion euros in loans, achieving a plan execution rate of 32%.
In response to inquiries from Lusa regarding the execution of Cohesion policy programs, the official reiterated that projects are “adopted and executed through shared management between the Commission and the Member States, not individual governments.”
Consequently, the Commission affirmed that it will continue to collaborate with an interim government for both the mid-term review and the broader implementation of Cohesion policy programs.
The political turmoil escalated on Tuesday when the Assembly of the Republic rejected a vote of confidence put forth by the government, leading to its resignation.
In light of this development, the President of the Republic has indicated that potential dates for early legislative elections could be as soon as May 11th or 18th.
This political crisis originated in February when a news article surfaced regarding Luís Montenegro’s family company, Spinumviva, which at that time was owned by his wife and children under a community property regime and was recently transferred solely to their children. This raised concerns about adherence to the rules concerning incompatibilities and restrictions for public officials.
Subsequent weeks saw a flurry of reports, including one from Expresso, revealing that the company Solverde was paying Spinumviva a monthly fee of 4,500 euros. This situation led to two failed motions of censure against the government by the Chega and PCP parties, along with an announcement by the PS party that it would initiate an inquiry committee.
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