Portugal is the seventh country in the European Union with the lowest execution of the current EU framework, below the European average of 28.4%, but having improved from the last position it occupied in May. According to the EU payment monitoring mechanism, Portugal received 5.43 billion euros, of which 1.62 billion correspond to pre-financing and 3.8 billion to interim payments, representing 24% of the 22.6 billion available until 2027, with an additional two years for execution.
Estonia leads the ranking with 50.9% execution, followed by Finland with 48.9% and Luxembourg with 47.4%. However, the article warns that these comparisons are conditioned by the disparity in financial envelopes, with countries with larger envelopes tending to be more delayed. When comparing only with countries that have envelopes exceeding six billion euros, Portugal is ninth in interim payments and remains seventh counting from the end.
In the previous EU framework, Portugal 2020, the country once ranked among the top positions, but delays in Portugal 2030 pushed it twice to the last place. Among the factors that contributed to this performance are the late entry into force of the program and the simultaneity with the closure of PT2020 and the execution of the RRP, which had an allocation similar to an EU framework. Spain appears in last place with 12.3% execution and Italy is one step above, with 13.3%.
The Portuguese Government has taken several measures to accelerate the execution of funds, including the waiver of prior scrutiny by the Court of Auditors for contracts funded by European funds, the improvement of information systems, the shortening of the decision deadline for applications, and the reinforcement of human resources.
