Portugal 2030 takes in projects that left the RRF

The Portugal 2030 European funds will fund some important works that left the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) because of the impossibility of completing them before 31 December 2026. 

These are the Pisão Dam in Portalegre district (222 million euros), the Algarve Desalinising facility in Albufeira (108 million) and the Pomarão water collection facility (101 million) also in the Algarve.

This change in the sources of funding is part of the Portugal 2030 reprogramming proposal the Government delivered to the European Commission. Envisaged in the European regulations, this interim review is for the Government to speed up European fund execution and adjust some of the investments to the country’s priorities. 

The Government’s proposal maintains the overall value of the Portugal 2030 Cohesion Policy Funds (Cohesion Funds) – 22.602 billion euros, as well as the amounts allocated to each of the Themed or Regional programmes.

"The principle that determined this reprogramming is that the European funds Portugal has at its disposal until 2026 are fully executed as quickly as possible in projects that are useful, structural, and strategic to the country", said Castro Almeida, Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister and Territorial Cohesion.

Since the grants under the RRF allocated to Portugal need to be mandatorily executed by the end of 2026, part of its projects were transferred over to the State Budget, and another part will be funded by Portugal 2030 sums, such as the major investments in damns, water collection, and treatment. 

As a counterpart, the funding of rail rolling stock for urban and regional mobility will no longer fall under Portugal 2030, as the litigations are delaying delivery of the materials, and this investment will be included in the State Budget.

"What we tried to guarantee is that nothing of what we can move forward with will be stalled, that all the RRF grants are fully executed before the end of 2026, and that Portugal 2030 will fund strategic investments for the country" Castro Almeida stated. 

Execution of the targets and milestones for the 7th RRF payment request are at an advanced stage, and we expect their conclusion to this April. At that stage, Portugal will have reached a 47% execution of the RRF targets and milestones.

Among the main changes to Portugal 2030 as proposed to the European Commission we note the transfer of 1.285 billion euros to the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP), set up with the aim of supporting projects on critical technologies in Europe, namely digital technologies, and technological innovation, clean and efficient technologies in terms of resources and biotechnology. 

176 million euros for RESTORE - Regional Emergency Support to Reconstruction will also be included in Portugal 2030, a programme set up to repair the damage caused by the natural catastrophes that hit in 2024 and 2025.

The revision proposed to the European Commission reorganizes the eligibility of funding the water and sold waste management systems, with the systems above being transferred over to the Sustainable Programme 2030, whereas the systems below will continue to be funded by the regional programmes via the ERDF. 

The boundaries and complementarity between the Portugal 2030 Cohesion Policy Funds and the Common Agricultural Policy Funds (CAP Funds) and the Sea Programme Funds (EMFAF) will be adjusted to ensure better articulation between the instruments in order to maximise the impact of agriculture and fisheries in the regional development process.

The Portugal 2030 reprogramming proposal will now be analysed by the European Commission and will enable better allocation of the available resources", said the Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister and Territorial Cohesion Castro Almeida. 

"This reprogramming is a fundamental step to accelerate the programmes’ execution, adapting the country’s technological innovation priorities, and implementing projects that are essential to the Alentejo and Algarve’s sustainable development", he added.