The latest partnership agreement between the European Commission and Portugal will see €26 billion in funds arriving in Lisbon between now and 2020 - “a barrel-load of money,” according to the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.
The agreement was signed today in São Bento, Lisbon with Barroso and Portugal's Prime Minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, beaming at the opportunity for Portugal to access investment funds of such a massive amount.
Before the signing, Barroso said that this agreement will silence those who say that the EC is not sympathetic to Portugal, adding "the task now is to apply these funds well. Through this agreement we have the tools to do so and I'm confident about a future with Portugal relying on European solidarity."
Barroso said that European funds had been the "main source of financing" for the Portuguese economy over the last three years, adding that he is confident about the post-Troika period, agreeing with the Prime MInsiter that the economy no longer will be beholden to a half a dozen powerful “economic and social groups."
Lisbon and Brussels are said to be aligned on the priorities for the €26 billion in structural funds for 'Portugal 2020' destined to be spent on 'business growth and job creation' schemes with development in agriculture and fisheries a priority.
The Algarve is considered one of the less poor regions of the country and qualifies for just 7% of the €26 billion funding package.
The prime minister stressed that the strategy already is set and now that the money from the Troika has run out, said that Portugal has to consolidate the structural changes in the economy so that it is not in the hands of un-appointed economic groups.
"The next few years will be crucial to consolidate these changes in an economy that is not in the hands of half a dozen economic or social groups, but will in fact be for the development of Portugal for the Portuguese," said the PM, insisting that we must change the "incentive system" from the past and "move the needle on the guidelines of priorities" for the new Structural Funds 2020 programme.
Barroso said he hoped the money would be managed well now that Portugal 2020 is finalised, stressing that aid to Small and Medium Enterprises, research, technology , employment, combating youth unemployment, advanced research with direct connection to businesses, and the combatting of poverty "are the right priorities."
Passos Coelho said that the Troika period had served up many reforms to make Portugal a better, more efficient place, "to meet the Troika demands on us, we had to correct the serious imbalances that had accumulated and lay the groundwork for a fairer economy with more competition which can open up more opportunities for everyone and not just for certain protected sectors of the economy, which as we now know does not offer true prosperity."
Passos Coelho's opposition would claim that he has failed to make the structural changes in an economy that still supports an unwarranted number of civil servants paid for by a monstrous taxation regime that has stifled the entrepreneurial spirit, seen thousands leave the country and had metered out punishment to those owing the state money which they do not have.
The PM's comments on the economic cabals that are rumoured to run the country from behind the scenes is a direct warning to the likes of the Espirito Santo family whose power base has been eaten away by poor fiscal management, and those other families whose fingers normally would be in the pie of such EC largesse.
It remains to be seen whether the PM's words today translate into a fairer society and more efficient economy or whether contracts paid for by EC funds will go to the same old companies and individuals.
