Farmers confederation boss concerned over execution of RRP

The president of the Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP) says he is concerned over the execution of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) but says that he lives in hope that “miracles do happen”.

“I am an optimist. I want to believe that we can perform miracles. I remember that a decade ago that we were able to complete the Alqueva (Alentejo dam and reservoir) development sooner than expected and use EU cohesion funds.

“At the time we had the determination of the government and the benevolence of the European Commission that allowed these sums to go through”, said Álvaro Mendonça e Moura in an interview with Lusa to mark the 50th anniversary of the confederation.

The CAP stressed that the government was continuing to insist that it would not lose the money and expressed the hope that everything would be done for that not to happen, but said he was concerned all the same.

The Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP, which has to be implemented by the end of 2026, aims to implement a set of reforms and investments with a view to recovering economic growth.

In addition to aiming to repair the damage caused by covid-19, this plan is intended to support investments and generate employment.