António Costa announced this Tuesday, 21 July, a "specific program for the Algarve region" worth 300 million euros to support the regional economy. The prime minister was speaking in Brussels after the agreement reached by the European Council for a financial package for the recovery of the post-Covid-19 economy.
After days of deadlock, the European Council reached an agreement, with Portugal to collect, as a result of the long-term budget of the European Union (EU) and the Recovery Fund, 45 billion euros in subsidies, allocating the 300 million euros to the Algarve.
This additional allocation, in the area of Cohesion, aims to “support the diversification of the economy, improve infrastructure and make necessary investments in the health sector”.
António Costa justified this special package for the Algarve with the fact that the crisis “we are going through” affects “in particular tourism, which has meant a very particular sacrifice for the Algarve”.
The region has been, moreover, the one «where the unemployment has risen more dramatically» and the Algarve, «being in transition, for several years it has had a lower endowment of funds than other regions», he justified.
At the national level, Portugal collected a total of 45,1 billion euros, including 15,3 billion in non-repayable transfers. The other 29,8 billion are for subsidies from the EU's long-term budget 2021-2027.
Despite not being included in these accounts, these appropriations are still added to 10,8 billion euros in loans, due to the Recovery Fund.
In his statements to journalists, António Costa said that this agreement comes when Portugal is fighting "to contain the pandemic, to keep companies, jobs and family incomes alive."
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