A “very important” opportunity that unites “all sovereign bodies and all Portuguese”. This is how Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa defined the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), in a statement at the beginning of a session with the government that served to take stock of the implementation of the plan’s funds.
The President of the Republic stressed that this is a matter of “national interest” and also stated that the session in question was an example of both institutional solidarity – implying “cooperation based on certain objectives” – and strategic, “because here go you on”. “The idea is that the strategy embodied in the PRR and everything that goes with it has a national success,” he concluded.
In turn, António Costa – who spoke after the President of the Republic – did not rule out the possibility of asking for more money because of inflation. In fact, as I said, it is “highly likely” that this will happen. “Depending on how inflation develops, it is very likely that we will resort to resources not yet used from the PRR to cover costsnamely with the IPSS (Private Institutions of Social Solidarity) or the municipalities, which today are trying to rent at a higher price than initially foreseen,” said António Costa.
In the same speech, António Costa also believed that green hydrogen could represent a “structural change” in the Portuguese economy. According to the Prime Minister, the production of this raw material will enable Portugal to reduce energy dependence – thereby producing enough energy for internal needs – while at the same time becoming an exporter. “We can become real exporters of the energy we produce and this is a structural change for the future of our economy, which will transform the country for at least the coming decades, and this is an opportunity we should not pass up,” warned the head of government. “Fortunately, the PRR gave the opportunity to demonstrate what a good solution it was and unfortunately the tragedy of the war has shown how Europe and Portugal must accelerate energy independencehe considered.
According to the Prime Minister “each euro of the Recovery and Resilience Plan translates into a growth of 5.3 euros in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)citing a study by the Treasury Department. Costa referenced this data to emphasize that the PRR has “an economic impact that far exceeds the 16.6 million euros already allocated”namely through the “leverage effect of investments”.
With LUSA
Source: DN
