PM announces €252M for sea research, blue economy
António Costa announced that the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) would have €252 million dedicated to the sea sector.
Portugal’s prime minister announced on Monday that the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) would have €252 million to finance investments in research in the sea economy and fishing safety.
In addition to the €252 million within the scope of the RRP, with specific regard to the sea sector, António Costa said that around €300 million from the next Multiannual Financial Framework, “Portugal 2030”, and science funds directly managed by the European Union and for which Portuguese companies and institutions will have to apply, will also be added to this amount.
Costa announced these investments at the end of a visit to the scientific ship Mário Ruivo, at Alfeite, in Almada, which was also attended by the ministers of defence, João Gomes Cravinho, and maritime affairs, Ricardo Serrão Santos.
“As part of the public discussion of the RRP, the government decided to create its own chapter dedicated to the sea that will mobilise €252 million, of which €30 million allocated to an initiative of the Autonomous Region of the Azores and €222 million dedicated to the country as a whole to fund various activities,” the prime minister said.
According to Costa, activities linked to research, the incubator of companies associated with the blue economy and the improvement of fishing safety conditions will be funded.
“This programme will be quite comprehensive and will complement other resources because the whole of the RRP is accessible activities dedicated to the sea, whether in the area of combating climate change or in the field of digital transition or resilience,” he justified.
He also stressed that the Multiannual Financial Framework of Portugal 2030 is also accessible to the actions of the sea.
“In the Multiannual Financial Framework, the sea will have in the next decade, as it had in this one, a specific programme that will transcend €300 million. Moreover, there are all the conditions for us to be competitive in accessing the funds directly managed by the European Union, namely in terms of science,” the prime minister also pointed out in his brief speech.
