The Prime Minister says PRR money should be used with “responsibility” and “efficiency”.

The prime minister warned this Friday that “every cent” of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) must be used with “transparency, accountability and maximum efficiency” and because “no one will forgive” if the goals of this funding program are not met. achieved.

“Our responsibility is that we can use every penny [do PRR] with all transparency, with all responsibility and with maximum efficiency, so that every penny spent is converted into goals, in this case overcoming isolation, fighting poverty and creating communities with greater social cohesion,” said António Costa from Porto. speaking at the launch of the Action Plan for Low Income Communities in the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP).

The Executive Leader recalled some of the goals of PRR, highlighting its unique nature: “This is a great challenge for society, and it is a challenge that no one will forgive us if we fail to meet it,” he began with what he said.

“Because PT2030 will continue to exist, as has PT2020 until now. Similar to the one we faced with covid, we hope that the other situation will not be as dramatic and that there is no possibility for a new PRR,” he explained.

As is well known, the overall goal of the Cooperation and Sustainability Plan is to support the dual energy and digital transition.

But it immediately became clear that these transitions could not leave anyone behind, and for this, a very important component had to be introduced into the PRR, which had to withstand the more structural vulnerabilities that exist in our community.

Even in the PRR, António Costa recalled that in the Porto region, “applications for 12,310 legal entities or individuals were approved for a total of 839 million euros, of which” 267 million [de euros] are relevant to a set of investments that respond to vulnerabilities.”

Among the approved projects, the Prime Minister singled out “13 projects related to primary health care, five new health centers, two projects related to integrated continuous care units (…), 187 new responses in areas or equipment in social areas. , 21 different projects in the field of housing construction”.

António Costa also stressed the “collective ambition” to fight poverty and the importance of raising the minimum wage in this fight.

“Between 2015 and 2019, 700,000 people have risen out of poverty. Unfortunately, the crisis of life meant a significant regression, and the crisis that we are experiencing today, with inflation and severe inflation caused by the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine, in particular, did not contribute to this recovery, but even so, the level of poverty or social exclusion is now at 4% lower than we had in 2015 and 430,000 fewer people in poverty than in 2015,” he said.

According to the head of government, the poverty threshold is “already 31% higher than the poverty threshold was in 2015”, a threshold that “will grow” and also “will be more demanding”.

“This means that our actions must be even more decisive, because there are people who are statistically above the poverty line today and who, due to the simple evolution of the total income of society, will be statistically below it,” he said.

“That’s why it’s important that we continue to raise the national minimum wage in a sustainable and progressive manner, which is why the medium term agreement that was signed in the context of social consultation is so important to ensure that everyone in the public sector or in the private sector they have real growth income is higher than inflation. Over the years, and thus, the risk of poverty will also decrease due to higher incomes,” he concluded.

The Action Plan for Disadvantaged Communities prepared under the PDP will be translated into six actions at the territorial and supra-municipal scale aimed at promoting socio-economic development, as well as on the urban axis focused on innovation, learning, participation. and community participation.

AMP, together with the 17 municipalities and the Portuguese Reconstruction Mission Structure in particular, will be responsible for ensuring the management of the implementation of the activities, their follow-up, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation, among other things. obligations to regulate and implement the implementation of investments.