Public entities in the Algarve have pledged to accelerate the rollout of EU-funded projects to avoid having to send back €10 million to Brussels by the end of the month, the president of the Algarve Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR Algarve) said today.
At stake is compliance with the N+3 rule, the so-called “guillotine rule”, which requires annual execution of pre-defined funding targets under Portugal 2030, on pain of losing any unspent allocation.
José Apolinário explained that the region “must ensure the submission of expenses already carried out and paid” to meet this year’s target of €106 million. Next year’s figure rises to €130 million.
“These are ongoing projects, approved works awaiting the issue of acceptance terms, operations submitted and under technical analysis, all administrative matters,” he noted. He added that, in part, these delays stem from competition with national Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) projects, which benefit from 100% funding, whereas Algarve2030 co-financing stands at 60%, because the region is classified as a transition area with GDP per capita above 75% of the EU average.
“This has another consequence. Municipalities with smaller budgets struggle more to submit applications to regional programmes, because they must first register the expenditure in their accounts,” he pointed out.
According to Apolinário, municipalities, the University of the Algarve, the Local Health Unit, and Águas do Algarve, have now committed to mobilising all available resources to “avoid returning funds to Brussels.”
To ensure full use of the region’s allocation, CCDR Algarve has submitted a reprogramming proposal to the European Commission. The aim is to redirect funds towards new priorities, including affordable housing, strategic technology platforms in digital fields, strengthening the industrial base and dual-use capabilities in a defence context, as well as additional investment in the urban water cycle.
Source: LUSA
