Government ‘rejects false accusations’ by Marques Mendes regarding Recovery and Resilience Plan

Government “rejects” what he says are “false accusations” made by Luis Márquez Méndez during his comments at SIC on Sunday evening. In a statement sent to the editorial office this morning, the executive branch refers, in particular, to comments on possible withholding of payments under the Recovery and Resiliency Plan (PRR), as well as “accusations of negligence in his actions and even in relation to the content of the proposals he commented on.”

On Sunday evening, Marques Mendes said that “Brussels will withhold the payment of PRR in the amount of 2.775 billion euros.“Because the government did not approve in time three decrees-laws to which it was obliged: one on the concentration of the general secretariats of all ministries; another for merging the planning departments of ministries; third is the legal strengthening of public administration. Tomorrow, finally, these three DLs will be approved. With a significant delay. Someone needs to explain this negligenceresulting in EU funds being withheld,” can be read in a commentary also reproduced by Negosios, which mentions a meeting of the Council of Ministers at which the PRR will be discussed.

“Taking into account the comments made by Luis Marques Mendes this evening at the SIC, the government rejects false accusations, such as that Brussels is withholding payments from the Recovery and Resilience Plan, as well as accusations of negligence in its actions and even in relation to the content of the proposals that he commented,” the government reacts.

The Contractor guarantees that “the goals and milestones related to the 5th payment request are at an advanced stage of implementation” and “rejects the idea of ​​any withholding of paymentswith the next government able to complete the process and become the second country able to submit a fifth payment request in accordance with the timetable set by the European Commission.” The statement even emphasizes that Portugal is “at the forefront of implementationhaving already achieved 102 benchmarks and targets related to investment and reform, representing 22% of the total program volume, which allowed it to receive 4 payment requests, which only Italy has also achieved.”

The executive explains that since it has been in power since December 8 and its actions are subject to “constitutional restrictions,” “did not have provisions for the approval of diplomas that structurally change the organization of the central public administration, especially in support of political decision-making.”

“With the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic, restrictions on government action increased and it was impossible to introduce and obtain approval for a bill relating to the capital market. Thus there was no possibility
negligence in relation to the reforms envisaged in the Recovery and Resilience Plan, but rather the constant work to complete the measures and respect for the political system in which we live and which the government did not want or protect“, he points out.

The government also says that “despite these restrictions,” the Council of Ministers this Monday will review diplomas related to public administration reform, which “involved exhaustive work
collection and processing of information that allowed the preparation of a conceptual model of a working group with the mission of carrying out functional and organic reform of public administration.”

“The working group continued to prepare the proposal in accordance with the originally proposed timetable, including consultations with the various government departments involved, in particular the General Secretariats and Directorates
Planning or its equivalent,” he said, stressing that “it is also not true that any merger of planning offices is foreseen, which, on the contrary, will be strengthened by this reform.”