Portugal 2020, the very name has Portugal’s business community searching for ways to access part of the €27.06 billion give away.
Plans are being made for local development initiatives that encourage entrepreneurship and job creation as the government announces the imminent opening of the pre-qualification period.
Business plans are sought that accord with the broad criteria of ‘Local Community Development’ and that focus on partnerships that enable and encourage businesses that create jobs, especially in "disadvantaged areas in urban, rural or coastal areas that are economically fragile or that have low population density."
Among the areas from which businesses are being encouraged to apply are in 'fishing and coastal communities, fishing and coastal development, diversification and competitiveness of fisheries and the coastal based economy.'
The Interministerial Committee for Coordination of Portugal 2020 is qualifying and deciding on the projects.
There are four main sources of funding. The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the European Fund for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund.
There are limits of up to €200,000 per project depending on the funding category. The committee that is to evaluate the proposals must publish its initial decisions within 150 days of receiving project plans.
In July this year, the then president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso referred to the funds as “a barrel-load of money,” as he signed the agreement in São Bento, Lisbon with Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, thus ensuring that he was awarded the nation’s highest civilian award, the Grande Colar da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique which Barroso duly received in November.
Before the July signing of Portugal 2020, Barroso said that the agreement will silence those who say that the EC is not sympathetic to Portugal, adding "the task now is to apply these funds well. Through this agreement we have the tools to do so and I'm confident about a future with Portugal relying on European solidarity."
Former Maoist Barroso seemed proud that European funds had been the "main source of financing" for the Portuguese economy over the last three years.
The Algarve is considered one of the better off regions of the country and qualifies for just 7% of the €27 billion funding package. Indeed, money is currently being spent on destroying the mechanics of the Algarve’s artisan fishing industry in the Ria Formosa area where perversely businesses can now apply for funds under the new Portugal 2020 framework.
Barroso said in June that he hoped the money would be well managed, all too well aware of Portugal’s mystical ability to receive large amounts of EC funding with few results other than creating an even richer business elite.
It remains to be seen whether the PM's hopes for a fairer society as a result of these grants, with 'a more efficient economy,' will come to fruition or, as many fear, the money shelled out by an increasingly suspicious northern Europe will end up in the pockets on the same old companies and individuals.
