Portugal to benefit €58Bn from historic €750Bn EU recovery package

After a marathon four-day meeting, European Council leaders have finally agreed to a European funding package to kick-start Europe’s economy shattered by nearly five months of the Coronavirus pandemic.

In what will be the largest joint borrowing package in its history since a package agreed in Nice 20 years ago, the announcement was made on Twitter by Charles Michel, EU Co-President with the simple word ‘Deal!’ posted at 4.31am on Tuesday after eight hours of gruelling talks.
Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa also announced the “deal” to the Portuguese people via Twitter at 6.55am with the tweet: “Agreement reached at the European Council. For the first time a specific instrument for economic recovery has been approved, with a total investment value of €750Bn. A signal of confidence for #Europe and #Portugal in the face of the #COVID19 pandemic.”
The Lithuanian President, Gitanas Nausèda tweeted: “None of us expected #EUCO to be a blitz. We successfully avoided a blunder. A moderately successful Round Robin & a couple of stalemates. It took us 5 days and 50 moves to make a deal. Congratulations to all #EU27!” he said likening the negotiations to a game of chess.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyan, tweeted: “Today we’ve taken a historic step, we all can be proud of. But other important steps remain. First and most important: to gain the support of the European Parliament. Nobody should take our European Union for granted. It is our common responsibility to deliver.”
But what will the package mean for Portugal in monetary terms? Portugal is estimated to get €58Bn which will be delivered over a 10-year timeframe.
Portugal will receive €15Bn in subsidies from the recovery fund and a further €10Bn in loans, explained António Costa as he left the meeting.
“From between the funds made available from the next pluriannual financial framework and the community funds mobilised for the recovery programme, Portugal will get a total of €45.08Bn,” he told SIC TV.
António Costa also said: “Portugal will benefit from a supplementary amount of €300 million from Cohesion Funds and an additional €300 million of finance for the second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy”.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister also spoke of a “review of the amount of investment earmarked for Portugal’s autonomous regions,” with €35 million for the Azores and Madeira.
“All told, over the next 10 years, Portugal will have to apply a total of €57.9Bn, obviously an enormous challenge,” said the prime minister.