The European Court of Accounts refers to the “lost opportunity” in digital. Portugal is the fourth country that has less funds – business

S. The mechanism of recovery and flexibility (To finance Prr) (…) The transfer force to perform the digital transition should be, but this opportunity has not been used well“Because” the countries were not required to determine the priorities of the measures that respond to their main digital needs, “says ECA in a position issued today.

With money of 150 billion euros of “Al -Kouk” of 650 billion euros (2022 values), The digital part of the recovery and flexibility mechanism is the largest way for the current financing of the European Union digitization (The European Union), but according to ECA, “there was an unexpected strategic approach, as member states were not required to give priority to these funds to measures that meet the main digital needs that were previously identified.”

“Like him, Some member states devoted a smaller part of their financing The mechanism of recovery and flexibility The areas whose performance was not sufficientThe European Union auditor adds in his report.

In organizing this mechanism, it was created to help European Union countries recover from the economic effects of Covid-19 epidemic, The National PRRS was expected to allocate 20 % of its financing for renovations and digital investments This was “applied correctly”, according to ECA.

Despite, “We have also found that the performance framework and indicators used to follow up on progress were not a good parallel with the European Union’s digital strategyThe court adds that reducing your ability to measure the actual contribution of these reforms and investments in digital transition, “and therefore, these capabilities may not be evaluated.”

Based on ECA data referred to in the report, with regard to financing attributed to digital measures in National PRRS, In December 2023, Portugal was the fourth country of the European Union with allocating a number of money4.5 billion euros (equivalent to 21 % of the Portuguese plan).

In the digital area, Portugal PRR contains 2,460 Marco and 926 measures related to the digital area, in a current implementation of 25 %.

“Portugal’s digital challenges include the need to invest in digital transitionThat is, in developing both basic and advanced digital skills, in using digital technologies to ensure equality in reaching quality and training and increasing the competitiveness of companies. This is especially related to Portugal, where the economy is characterized by small institutions concentrated in the traditional sectors“You can read on the European Commission’s website about Portal PRR.

In general, the value of the plan is 22.2 billion euros, with an area of ​​16.3 billion euros and 5.9 billion euros as loans from the recovery and flexibility mechanism, which relates to 376 investments and 87 renovations.

at the moment, The country has already received 8.49 billion euros in grants, 2.9 billion euros in loans and the implementation rate of the plan 32 %.