The vice-president of the European Commission Raffaele Fito travels between this Wednesday, 8th, and Friday to Lisbon and the Azores to discuss the future of cohesion policy and the European Union’s strategy for the outermost regions.
In a statement, the European Commission says that, during his visit to Portugal, Raffaele Fitto will meet with the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, and of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, and meetings are also planned with the president of the Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, and the president of Lisbon City Council, Carlos Moedas.
In Lisbon, the vice-president of the European Commission responsible for Cohesion and Reforms will visit initiatives that are being developed within the scope of the Drainage Plan, financed with cohesion funds, and a project under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) to develop an artificial intelligence robot for agricultural purposes.
In the Azores, where Raffaele Fitto is traveling with the aim of also discussing the future of the EU strategy for the islands and outermost regions of the EU, the person responsible will visit two projects also financed with European funds: a housing project and another that aims to guarantee the integrated treatment of urban waste.
According to the community executive, the visit will serve to discuss “the new framework for cohesion policy investments in member states and regions under the next community budget”, which will cover the period between 2028 and 2034.
In this context, the mid-term review of cohesion policy will also be addressed. The European Commission says that in this review, Portugal “reallocated more than 2.5 billion euros to new EU priorities”, specifically 1.2 billion euros for competitiveness and 700 million for housing.
During the visit, the future of the National and Regional Partnership Plans (PNRP) will also be discussed, which, according to the Commission, will “make a broader set of resources available, allowing Member States to better respond to both national needs and challenges and the specific situations of each region”.
According to the community executive, the PNRP will also guarantee “more consistent and coherent programming through the integration of national, thematic and regional chapters”.
The European Commission also indicates that Raffaele Fitto will take advantage of the trip to explain the support that the EU can grant to Portugal, under the Solidarity Fund, to help recover the damage caused by the storms that hit the country at the beginning of the year.
Leave a Reply