Reconstruction of the Foros do Mocho causeway

Subject: Reconstruction of the Foros do Mocho causeway

In late 2022, the floods that occurred in several districts of Portugal had a major impact on accessibility, as I previously mentioned in the question I submitted about repairing the Ribeira Grande bridge in Fronteira (E-000931/2023)1.

In a recent trip to the district of Portalegre, I witnessed the dissatisfaction felt by the inhabitants of the parish of Montargil, who are still waiting for the reconstruction of the Foros do Mocho causeway, which was destroyed during that same period of bad weather. This has a significant impact on the lives and mobility of the locals who commute between Foros do Mocho and Montargil and are forced to use a very precarious and unsafe road, which causes greater wear and tear to vehicles and makes journeys longer.

The Municipality of Ponte de Sor claims that it does not know who owns the causeway, even though the roads that it connects are municipal roads. In light of the above:

1. Is the Commission aware of the situation and, to date, has any EU support been mobilised to bring about the swift reconstruction of this causeway?

2. What resources can be put to use for this purpose?

Submitted:9.4.2024

1 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2023-000931_EN.html

Answer given by Ms Ferreira on behalf of the European Commission

(30 May 2024)

Under shared management, Member States are responsible for the selection of projects to be supported by Cohesion policy programmes, under the conditions defined in the Partnership Agreements.

According to information received from the Portuguese authorities, no support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Alentejo regional programme for 2014-2020 or 2021-2027 has been, to date, mobilised to repair the causeway in question.

The repair of the causeway in question is also not foreseen in the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan, nor has there been a request from Portugal for assistance from the European Solidarity Fund, which may be activated upon request under specific conditions (2).

1 ∙ ⸱ https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2023-000931_EN.html

2 ∙ ⸱ The European Union Solidarity Fund https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/the-european-union-solidarity-fund.html