José Apolinário, the first elected president of the Algarve Regional Coordination and Development Commission, says that "throughout 2021, there will be a clarifying answer, in terms of the Central Hospital of the Algarve", namely about how and when it can effectively advance.
The newly appointed head of the entity that, among many other powers, manages the European funds for the Algarve, assured journalists that this is an issue that has been on the agenda in the meetings he has held with the region's mayors.
"We are working together with the mayors and we want the dossier of the Hospital Central do Algarve to be clarified in 2021", said José Apolinário, at a press conference that served to make the balance of the application of European Union Funds in the region, but also to project the future.
This was the answer repeated several times by the president of the CCDR when asked about the new Central Hospital. For now, Apolinário does not commit to calling this work a priority or saying how it can be paid for – «the sources of funding will still have to be studied».
What seems to be certain is that this is a topic that mayors do not forget, so it is expected that it will remain on the agenda. In the end, It has been 3 months today since José Apolinário was elected president of this entity, in unprecedented elections, in which the electoral college was composed of all those elected to the Municipal Chambers, in power and in the opposition, and by the elements of the Municipal Assemblies, including the presidents of the Parish Council.
José Apolinário did not hide that he has to "respond to the electoral college" and listen to their wishes.
The preparation of the next Community Support Framework has been carried out in conjunction with the municipalities, but also with companies and business associations. The main objective is that the application of European funds that will arrive between 2021 and 2027 «de facto contribute to the diversification of the Algarve's economic base».
«We are working with AMAL, which has work in progress, but also with business associations and sectorial areas, to strengthen our response in the area of the sea, energy efficiency and renewable energies, agribusiness and biotechnology, aging active and healthy, in the area of green employment and in the creative and cultural industries», explained the president of CCDR do Algarve.
These are the priority areas for the coming years and towards which the money that will come from the European Union will be channelled. And there will be many, much more than usual, the euros that will arrive from Europe, bound for the Algarve. First of all, the famous 300 million “Bazooka”, which will have to be used to recover the Algarve economy and to ensure that the region becomes less dependent on the tourist sector and, as such, more resistant to crises.
To this sum will be added another similar one, also in the order of three hundred million euros, referring to the next Operational Program of the Algarve. On the other hand, there will be money coming from programs managed at national level and even at European level.
"We want to work, throughout this year, so that, in the period from 2021 to 2027, the region can have a doubling of the European funds applied here, whether in economic activities, in the activities of municipalities or in public investments," José told journalists Apolinario.
In practice, this will mean that the region will have access to "about €1200 billion" of European funds in the next funding period.
«In relation to the projects that result from the Recovery and Resilience Plan and the cross-border programs, our perspective is to seek to integrate, in the region, as many projects as possible and obtain the maximum funding for initiatives that improve the lives of people living in the Algarve and improve the resilience of the region», concluded José Apolinário.
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