State of play of Portugal’s implementation of the 2014-2020 MFF and reprogrammability of funds

Subject: State of play of Portugal’s implementation of the 2014-2020 MFF and reprogrammability of funds

I would like to ask the Commission for an update on Portugal’s rate of implementation of funds and related programmes under the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework. I would like both an overview and a breakdown per fund.

Bearing in mind:

the implementation period for these funds, which runs until 2023;

information from the Portuguese Government which suggests that less than two thirds of the total amount available under PT2020 will be implemented;

the current context blighted by the pandemic;

I would like to ask the Commission whether there is any way to reprogramme the unspent funds?

If there is, under what conditions might this kind of programming occur?

If this option is not available, why is this the case?

Answer given by Ms Ferreira on behalf of the European Commission

(25 May 2021)

The volume of resources for Portugal from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) (1) and the Fund for European Aid to the most Deprived (FEAD) in the programming period 2014-2020, and the corresponding implementation rates (as of 31 December 2020), are detailed in the annex to this reply.

The Commission confirms that the implementation period for these funds runs until 31 December 2023, with the exception of the EAFRD, where the implementation period ends on 31 December 2025.

The Portuguese Government has not shared with the Commission any information suggesting that remaining funds would not be implemented. The rate of selection and the rates of execution at the end of 2020 suggest that Portugal will fully use its ESIF and FEAD national allocation for the period 2014-2020.

The ESIF and FEAD programmes in Portugal have most recently been amended in the second half of 2020 to address the socioeconomic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The amendments used several of the unprecedented flexibilities provided under CRII and CRII+ for the use of cohesion policy funds during the pandemic (2).

In addition, REACT-EU (3), which is part of the NextGenerationEU package, reinforces the 2014-2020 cohesion policy funds with an additional EUR 39.8 billion in 2021 and EUR 10.8 billion in 2022 (4).

It continues and extends the crisis repair measures delivered through CRII and CRII+ and constitutes a bridge to the long-term multiannual financial framework.

The Portuguese allocation of REACT-EU amounts to EUR 1.6 billion in 2021 (5). Under REACT-EU, the ESIF and FEAD can be reprogrammed up to the end of 2023. Member States can submit to the Commission requests for programme amendments, including of contents and financing plans, until 30 September 2023.

⋅1∙ The 2014-2020 ESIF funds comprise: the European Regional Development Fund; the European Social Fund, the Youth Employment Initiative, the European

Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD); the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the Cohesion Fund. ⋅2∙ https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/stories/s/4e2z-pw8r

⋅3∙ Detailed information on REACT-EU (Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe) is available in:

https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/newsroom/coronavirus-response/react-eu. ⋅4∙ In current prices. The corresponding amounts in 2018 prices are EUR 37.5 and EUR 10 billion. ⋅5∙ The national allocations for 2022 will be calculated in autumn 2021, using the using the latest statistical data available by 19 October 2021. The allocation key has

been agreed by the co-legislators in the REACT-EU Regulation: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX %3A32020R2221&qid=1611824380100