Mariana Vieira da Silva was on SIC Notícias this Monday afternoon after the Council of Ministers approved, in general, the diplomas that ensure the payment of the fifth tranche of the PRR. According to the Minister of the Presidency, the “political context” was largely to blame for the delay in approving the diplomas. As for the money, which will already be the responsibility of Luís Montenegro’s Government, “it could hardly have been received sooner”.
“The Government had until the end of 2023 to receive four PRR payment requests. And it received them”, highlighted Vieira da Silva. In fact, the minister said, “this is a normal process” and “that is why there are only two countries that have already received four payment requests“. Confirmed?
According to the European Commission (EC), in a statement of December 28, 2023, when payments to six member states were announced, only Portugal and Italy had received four payments by that date. Germany was still in the first tranche (4 billion euros), Greece in the third (3.64 billion euros) and Slovakia in the third as well (662 million euros). Polígrafo also confirmed, one by one, the 23 member states that are benefiting from European aid.
A Croatiafor example, has already made the request for the fourth payment (in December), but the amount has not yet been disbursed. As for Portugal, the third and fourth tranches were requested in October and authorized in the last month of last year (for a total value of 2.46 billion euros). At Italythe fourth payment of 16.5 billion euros was requested in September and paid in December.
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