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European Commissioner Elisa Ferreira pointed out this Thursday, in an online event, that “after all these years of massive support from the structural funds, Portugal continues to be a backward country”, and has called for “a territorialized reading of the policies.”
Defending that “it is important” to reflect on “the options that the country has” in the context of the European Union (EU) recovery plan for Portugal, Elisa Ferreira – speaker at an event organized by the Representation of the European Commission in Portugal and the Portugal Network – – acknowledged that “there are things that must be corrected” and that the application of European funds “must be radically different from the reproduction of the past.”
Specifically, “it has to be much more environmental, much more digital, much more balanced, socially and spatially,” he explained.
“At the national level, it is time to take very seriously what the country wants to be”urged the Portuguese commissioner, responsible for Cohesion and Reforms in the community executive.
These “choices” that the country has to make “include recognizing that there is a rich region and that the rest of the country is an entire poor region.“, evaluated.
Member States have “a unique opportunity to undertake reforms”
Otherwise, he warned, Portugal runs the “risk” of remaining among the “countries in transition” and “being surpassed by many other” member states of the European Union.
Elisa Ferreira highlighted that the concentration in the most dynamic hubs “does not work”, arguing that there must be “a territorialized reading of policies and a balanced conception of the territory, that is, valuing intermediate cities, making the country more resilient.”
Remembering that “GDP [Produto Interno Bruto] per capita “of Portugal” is extraordinarily low or very low “, The commissioner stressed that, as much as Lisbon grows, “the rest of the country is too heavy to allow the country to start.”
Elisa Ferreira also stressed that the agreement on the EU’s economic and social recovery plan to overcome covid-19, reached in Brussels on Friday, is important, “but there is still a whole process” of ratification by national parliaments . .
The EU, he stressed, had an “adequate response to a huge emergency situation” and did “something that had never happened in the history of the structural funds”, allowing the reprogramming and reallocation of unused funds for “emergency expenses” , leaving at the discretion of the States in which they are used.
In view of this, he considered that Member States have “a unique opportunity to undertake reforms”, from public administration to the energy suitability of buildings.
The Portugal Network Meetings, which will run until Wednesday and will be broadcast live on the social networks of the Commission Representation in Portugal and on the Portugal Network website, aim to bring together institutions and companies European, associations, organizations and other entities. Portuguese communities, through dialogue on the plans and actions of the European Union that have an impact on Portugal.
