The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, considered this Friday, February 20, prudent and “very certain” the way in which the government will move forward with the Portugal Transformation, Recovery and Resilience (PTRR) program, but advised the executive to be transparent in the process.
The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, announced this Friday that the Government wants to approve the final version of the PTRR at the beginning of April and the financial envelope will only be defined after the national consultation period.
“We are in a period after the critical phase of the calamity, when it comes to accounting for the losses. And when visiting several municipalities, and only a small part, I got the idea that this survey would take some time”, said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
“Therefore, I think the position taken by the Government is prudent, which is, instead of starting with the roof, starting with the foundations of the building (…). Let’s survey the losses, calculate them, evaluate them, at the level of each municipality, with the contribution made by each municipality in the affected areas, and then arrive at the global amount and the distribution of that amount or amounts for the various needs”, added the President, who was speaking at the Portuguese embassy in Madrid, at the end of the official visit to Spain.
Revealing that he was previously informed by the Prime Minister of the terms under which the Government decided to move forward with the PTRR, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated that he has already agreed with Luís Montenegro the moment in which the two will speak about the implementation of the program and that the executive’s “idea” is also to listen to the elected President, António José Seguro, who takes office on March 9, as well as parties and other institutions and entities.
“So, it’s also good, you won’t anticipate what you’ll want to hear”, he stressed, considering that the Government opted for “a very safe and very certain methodology, although quick”.
The President of the Republic estimated that the full implementation of the PTRR, in response to the impact of the bad weather in recent weeks, could take up to two years, given that “things do not all progress at the same time” and, in addition to “needs that can be met more quickly”, there will also be “major works” in terms of infrastructure, for example.
“The Portuguese will want to follow what is being done, but I think that the Government would also do well if it has the greatest possible transparency”, said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, after being asked whether the Portuguese will understand that the process could take months or years to complete.
The president advised the government “to explain to the Portuguese what it is doing”, detailing the phase in which the PTRR is being implemented and how priorities will be defined.
Luís Montenegro announced today, at the end of the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers, that the Government approved this Friday the general lines of the PTRR, created by the executive to respond to the effects of bad weather in Portugal which, since January 28, has caused 18 deaths and hundreds of injuries and displacement.
The prime minister announced that he had already requested meetings with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and with the elected head of state, António José Seguro, in addition to the meetings already scheduled with parties with parliamentary seats, next Wednesday.
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