The Socialist Party (PS) today accused Minister Castro Almeida of being unwilling to clarify alleged delays in the execution of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and Portugal 2030 in parliament.
When questioned about this accusation, a source from the Ministry of Economy and Territorial Cohesion stated that the minister “has always made himself available for meetings with the Parliamentary Committees he was summoned to.”
In this instance, Castro Almeida already had engagements on the proposed dates by the Committee (July 9 and 16), so he “suggested two alternative dates to the Committee, July 14 at any time or July 15 in the morning.”
In a statement sent this afternoon, the Socialist bench “laments and considers it unacceptable that the Minister of Economy and Cohesion claims he is unavailable to come to parliament, as is his duty, to explain the delays in the PRR and PT2030, which reports and entities highlight.”
The PS noted that its request for Minister Castro Almeida’s hearing “was unanimously approved in committee,” a meeting in which “clarifications on the status of these programs and the main challenges identified” should be provided.
According to the PS, both the PRR and PT2030 “show significant delays, with the risk of losing funds.”
As reported, the matter concerns requests from the parliamentary groups Chega and the PS, which were approved on Wednesday in the Commission of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, as confirmed by Pedro Coimbra (PS), who presides over it.
Alongside Castro Almeida, as outlined in the requests, the president of the Recovery Portugal Mission Structure, Fernando Alfaiate, and the president of the National Monitoring Committee for the PRR, Pedro Dominguinhos, will also be summoned.
Apart from the PRR, the Portugal 2030 program, currently in its early execution phase, is also expected to be discussed.
