In the space of seven months, Portugal has left last place in this ranking, but the disbursement rate is at 3.2%, that is, it is still lower than the European average at the end of May, when it was in the final position.

According to the EU country-by-country payments monitoring mechanism, last updated on December 23, Portugal received 516.67 million euros in the form of pre-financing (2.3% of the total financial envelope) and 198.17 million in intermediate payments (0.9%), that is, payments resulting from the presentation of invoices by beneficiaries. The total (714.85 million euros) corresponds to 3.2% of the 22.6 billion euros that Portugal has to invest until 2027, according to a report by ECO.

A figure well below the 13.9% of the Netherlands, which occupies first place in the ranking, or the 13.2% of Luxembourg, but which have very different financial envelopes — 1.54 billion and 38.9 million, respectively. Third place goes to Finland with 254 million euros paid, corresponding to 13.1% of the total (1.94 billion).

These comparisons, as the numbers show, are flawed by the fact that the financial envelopes are very different – ​​the almost 39 million from Luxembourg is very different from the 21.05 billion from the Czech Republic, which has already received 13% of that amount, and even more so from the 75 .4 billion from Poland. Therefore, generally, the Portuguese Government's strategy is to compare itself with countries that have financial envelopes exceeding ten billion euros.

“What keeps me awake at night is the delay in European funds,” said the Deputy Minister for Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, at the end of May, in Parliament, when he revealed that in terms of disbursements from the European Commission, in terms of Portugal 2030, the country was in last place. The official stressed that this was the only way to compare the performance of the various Member States in terms of the new Community support framework. Internally, the progress of funds is measured through the execution rate (the expenditure paid and validated with the European Commission) and, according to the most recent data (from 31 October) from the Agency for Development and Cohesion, the rate is 4%.

Countries with the most significant envelopes are further behind because they are those that also have the most generous Recovery and Resilience Plans. Spain is worse off than Portugal and Italy is one step above, in terms of payments of funds for the 2021-2027 programming period. The two biggest beneficiaries of the bazooka have €35.56 billion and €42.17 billion to execute, respectively, until 2029 (another two years, in addition to the 2027 target). Portugal has the sixth largest envelope in this community support framework.

The Government has adopted several measures to try to speed up the execution of European funds, especially the RRP, which must be executed by August 31, 2026. The reprogramming of the bazooka resources, which must be delivered to Brussels later this month, will be the most recent and after Portugal 2030 itself. Also on the table is the creation of a green route for immigrant workers – with guaranteed employment and housing – in order to overcome the shortage of labor, particularly in the construction sector. , which could put the implementation of the PRR at risk, as has already been recognized by Minister Castro Almeida and the Minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz.