Launched in 2019, AB’nin's post-pandemic Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) provides financial support to Member States such as Portugal and aims to make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and more prepared for green and digital transitions. In this section of Real Economy’ we go to Lisbon’ to see how RRF financing is being used to advance this transformation.
With its long coastline, sunny weather and intriguing landscapes, Portugal is an important tourist destination. However, after the Covid-19 outbreak was interrupted, sector experts drew attention to the deficiencies in investment, education and sustainability in the sector.
PortugalWe are reviving ’'s tourism sector
Catarina Nunes is vice-rector of the Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies, ’, Portugal, and leads a new RRF-funded program aimed at overcoming skills shortages in the ’ tourism industry. Speaking to Euronews’e, he explained that more could be done to help the industry unlock its full potential.
Catarina, “Portugal’ still has a long way to go in terms of education in tourism and hospitality, ” said. “There are changes imposed by the market: demands of innovation, improvement, sustainability, creation of new jobs, new trends, meeting the needs of the market.”
“We are part of a consortium of three higher education institutions that will receive approximately €6.7 million. We can deliver a digital transformation for the industry, providing requalification, continuous improvement and training tailored to the needs of the market, ” said.
It is estimated that about 8,000 students will benefit from this investment over five years.
One such student, João Aleixo, Euronews’e said that for him and others, the Healing and Endurance Facility’ has opened access to higher education.
“, the national recovery plan gives me and others like me a very important opportunity to get a master's degree. I'm thinking of doing a master's degree linked to entrepreneurship, innovation and the development of society in tourism, ” explained.
Portugal’in Recovery and Endurance Facility roadmap
Through the RRF, Portugal’'s national rescue plan will benefit from €13.9 billion in grants and €2.7 billion in loans.
Your plan is ’i will support climate targets, ’si will encourage digital transition.
The fund supports investments and reforms in areas such as transportation, health and digital technologies, with special emphasis on social needs such as housing, which is a major problem in the Portuguese ’.
Among the challenges facing Portugal ’ in the area of climate and environmental policies are making the building stock more energy efficient, diversifying energy sources and improving forest fire prevention.
Therefore, the Portugal’in plan includes a large-scale investment program of 300 million Euro’ to improve the energy efficiency of residential buildings.
How does Portugal use RRF money?
At the University of Lisbon, work is underway to provide affordable housing for 900 students in need.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lisbon Vitor Leitão “ said that the rents are very high”. “ has a shortage of houses and rooms. Especially in Lisbon’da and other major cities. So if we want to attract more students, we have to provide them with a place to stay. - ”
“, this is the first of three buildings. In terms of funding, the EU will fund us through this resilience and recovery plan for around €27 million, at a total cost of around €39 million, ” added.
PortugalIn line with ’'s green goals, these new buildings must comply with energy efficiency requirements.
While this is an important measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the country is also investing in weather forecasting technologies that are more suited to the climate challenges ahead.
To that end, the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) is set to receive a €17 million RRF investment and has already purchased a €1 million supercomputer.
IPMA President Miguel Miranda, “, said this computer will allow us to increase our computational capacity by 20 times to provide data faster and with better quality.
Miguel, “Portugal is one of the countries most affected by climate change. Our capacity to improve atmospheric forecasts and ocean forecasts, no matter how small, has a huge impact on people's lives, ” added.
Will RRF Portugal help sustain ’'s recovery?
According to the European Union’'s recovery plan, the country's GDP is expected to reach ’ by 2026. %It will increase up to 2.4’e and create employment for about 50,000 people.
Euronews asked Mariana Vieira da Silva’ya, the Portuguese government's Presidential Minister, if this would be enough to overcome the economic impacts of the pandemic.
“Of course, we think this is a good opportunity for us to get out of the crisis and at the same time prepare our economy for the future. And anyone can always say that more money is better than less money. However, I think that RRF’ is a very important program that the European Union ’ can launch and that we can approve and implement.”
Two years after the launch of RRF’, Euronews asked Mariana Vieira da Silva’ya what lessons have been taken and on what issues she still believes improvements need to be made.
We have a strong program on integration policy in countries like “Portugal, and now we have a strong program on RRF. They have different rules and different evaluation mechanisms, and I think we need to coordinate them more than we do now because the country, the administrative capacity of each country is not unlimited. And I think these two mechanisms need more coordination. - ”
Research into how RRF funding is used across Europe reveals that Portugal ’ has the second highest share allocated to social policy. But at this stage, is social policy investment a policy preference or an economic reality preference?
Minister “Eh, both said ”, I think.
“First of all, there is an inequality problem that we need to address in Portugal, and this is one of the most important things that will ensure that digital and climate transition are not unfair. We've already had many crises in our lives: The financial crisis, then COVID-19, and now the war.
Mariana Vieira da Silva, “So we need to ensure that our economy and social fabric are resilient enough to tackle future crises. I hope not, but we have to be prepared for them, ” said.
