Brussels unlocks 714 million euros after Portugal completes pending PRR reforms

The European Commission approved on Monday a preliminary decision to release 714 million euros in funds related to Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), which were suspended due to pending reforms that have since been “satisfactorily” implemented.
In a statement released on Monday, the community executive reported its “positive preliminary assessment to lift the suspension of the payment of 714 million euros to Portugal,” after recognizing the progress made in the execution of the Portuguese PRR.
“This decision follows previous suspensions, in which the Commission considered that certain milestones and objectives had not been satisfactorily met in Portugal’s third and fourth payment requests,” Brussels recalled.
After withholding around 810 million euros due to unfulfilled reforms in the health sector and regulated professions in Portugal, under the third and fourth PRR tranches, the European Commission now believes that the country “has taken measures to ensure that all pending milestones and objectives have been satisfactorily met,” allowing access to the pending 714 million euros (net amount).
Last week, the community executive told Lusa it expected to finalize this month the analysis of Portugal’s request for the disbursement of currently suspended funds under the third and fourth PRR payments, awaiting a new funding request from the country in the summer.
“Last year, there were some issues with the assessment of compliance with some of these milestones and objectives, but just a few days ago, on June 11, Portugal submitted a request to lift this payment suspension [worth 713 million euros] and, therefore, we are currently assessing this issue and, if those milestones and objectives are considered to have been successfully implemented, we will lift the suspension,” said European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis in an interview with Lusa.
Last December, the European Commission announced that Portugal had not met two milestones and one objective stipulated for the third and fourth payments, thus advancing with a positive preliminary assessment and suspending part of the funds.
At the time, the institution mobilized 2.46 billion euros in grants and loans in the third and fourth PRR payments and withheld another part.
Since Portugal did not meet three of the 47 milestones and targets related to the third and fourth grant parcels, it had to do so within an additional six-month period given by the European Commission, particularly concerning the reforms of professional orders.
In the now-released statement, Brussels noted that, taking advantage of the extended deadline, Portugal “implemented a series of effective actions, which improved the working regime of health professionals in the National Health Service and completed the decentralization of health responsibilities, significantly strengthening the country’s public health framework.” “In addition, Portugal adopted reforms that eliminate bureaucracy in highly regulated professions, paving the way for a more dynamic labor market,” the community executive added.
The Portuguese PRR amounts to 22.2 billion euros in grants and loans and covers 57 reforms and 284 investments.
So far, Portugal has received 6.12 billion euros in grants and 1.65 billion euros in loans, with a plan execution rate of 22%, according to data from the European Commission.