The Prime Minister’s resignation, the fact that the government will only have day-to-day management powers and the dissolution of Parliament, scheduled for January 15, could make it difficult or delay the European Commission’s approval of some important payments under the Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PRR) and which will take place next year.
The chairman of the National Monitoring Commission (CNA) of the PRR, Pedro Dominguinhos, explained during a press conference yesterday that this period in which the country will enter will be characterized by a partial cessation of the production of decrees and diplomas. (at least between mid-January and until the parliamentary elections on March 10) coincides with the phase of requests for payment of two important tranches of the PRR (the fifth and the sixth), the combined value of which exceeds 5 billion euros (over 20 billion euros). % of the entire PRR, which was recently reprogrammed and expanded to €22.2 billion).
As the economist explained, the period until the elections falls precisely into these two phases of the implementation of the PRR that must be implemented to meet the criteria granting access to funds.
The fifth tranche will run until December and the report will then be delivered in Brussels at the end of March. According to the CNA it is worth 3.2 billion euros.
And the sixth tranche is the payment (1.9 billion euros) following the correct implementation of measures and reforms on the ground by June 2024, with the relevant report to be delivered to the European Commission in September next year.
In the case of the fifth request, the chairman of the committee overseeing the material implementation of the PRR believes that the government “has the legitimacy to approve” what is still needed, without major problems.
But yesterday, presenting the Plan’s third monitoring report, he warned that there are two cases where “there is a risk of possible non-compliance with deadlines”: one of them concerns a reform to modernize and innovate the Portuguese capital market. .
According to Dominguinhos, legislation must be needed to make this possible. If not, there is always the option provided for in the PRR regulations, namely, in case of delay in implementation, an additional period of six months for the country to complete the remaining works. However, the respective financing of the reform or measure will be maintained until everything is resolved. If the country goes bankrupt, the money is lost.
“The amount is permanently suspended and deducted from the PRR,” he explained, emphasizing that this scenario is a limit and that, on the contrary, “we are convinced that there are many projects that will accelerate”, “it is expected that implementation will accelerate significantly in 2024,” he added.
In addition, there is the sixth request for payment of the sixth tranche. Here too, the person responsible is of the opinion that there may be “delays” due to a possible lack of legislation, a situation arising from the fact that parliament has been dissolved and that the government in its administration is very limited in drafting of new decrees.
“There may be increased risks because the reforms require decrees or possibly laws and the person responsible for their adoption is the Assembly of the Republic,” he noted.
“In the fifth and sixth repayment periods, when there is a need for approval of laws by parliament,” “the risk increases,” he noted.
‘Worrying and critical’
In any case, a quarter of the PRR’s investments and measures, about 25% of the total, so far show a very low implementation rate and material progress, “worrying and critical”, warns the PRR Commission (CNA-PRR) . in the aforementioned report, which has now been released.
This third official review of the plan “analyses the developments that have taken place since the last report, in February 2023”, adding the analysis of implementation to the reprogramming of the PRR, on October 17, 2023, the visits carried out from February executed. until September 2023, meetings and information collection with the various direct and intermediate beneficiaries, as well as ministries,” the entity explains.
“The overall assessment shows that of the ’86 investments/measures/sub-measures’ analyzed, these are assessed as ‘in line with planning’ (31.4%), ‘necessary monitoring’ (45.3%) and ‘of concern’ (19). 8%) and “critical” (3.5%).
Therefore, in the eight months analyzed (since February), less than a third (31) of investments made significant progress or progress in line with what the plan requires; almost half of the projects and measures remained the same in the evaluation and As mentioned, 23.3% have “deteriorated in the assessment” (concerning or critical progress), according to the commission’s research.
According to this new study, and always in comparison with the situation in February this year and in terms of the PRR reforms for the National Health Service (SNS), the measure aimed at making the primary health care network more responsive was, for example, in a situation where “monitoring was necessary”, but now the grade awarded was downgraded to “concerns” about progress made.
The deterioration in progress versus planning is also notable in the digital transition in healthcare, which went well in February and is now in a worrying situation.
Even worse are the measures on housing (although the government has recently finally adopted the comprehensive package covering the sector).
Also, the red alert (“critical” state of implementation) is raised on investments in the “Odivelas-Loures Light Rail” and the “Efficient, secure and shared digital critical infrastructure (computer system of security forces and services)”.
Luís Reis Ribeiro is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
