“According to the information we have obtained, all payments are regularized,” stated a source from the office of the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, in a written response sent today.
On Monday, the API expressed “deep concern” over the failure to pay state incentives to the media, emphasizing that the situation was affecting “a significant number” of its members.
“After consulting its members, the API found that most had not received concrete responses from the regional coordination and development commissions (CCDRs), being told that responsibility for payments lies with the government,” the association explained in a statement released at that time.
The projects in question, approved and completed between 2021 and 2024, fall under programs for digital development, technological modernization, and the promotion of literacy and education for the media. According to the association, the balances remain unsettled.
The amounts in question, according to API, range from 1,700 to 30,000 euros per project, “representing values that, in many cases, have already been advanced by the members themselves to suppliers and to fulfill salary responsibilities.”
On the 1st of the month, the association sent a formal letter to the Secretary-General of the Government, Carlos Costa Neves, “requesting urgent settlement of the outstanding amounts,” reiterating that the concerned projects have been “completed for over a year, with all contractual obligations and account submissions duly fulfilled, with no justification for this delay persisting.”
However, as stated in the communiqué released on Monday, “no forecast for the settlement of overdue amounts has yet been presented.”
“Given the seriousness of the situation,” API declared its determination to proceed with “all necessary steps” to demand immediate payment of the amounts owed and to defend the interests of its members, reminding that they “ensure, with great difficulty every day, the survival of a sector vital to democracy.”
