Costa talks with European commissioner for the economy on approval of RRP

  • Lusa
  • 20 May 2021

"At the working meeting today, in São Bento, with the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, we took stock of the RRPs approval process," António Costa said this Thursday.

Portugal’s prime minister met with the European Commissioner for the Economy on Thursday, a meeting in which the approval processes for recovery and resilience plans (PRR) and the prospects for economic recovery were analysed.

This meeting between António Costa and the Italian Paolo Gentiloni was disclosed on the official account of the leader of the Portuguese executive on the social network Twitter.

“At the working meeting today, in São Bento, with the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, we took stock of the RRPs approval process,” António Costa wrote.

In the same message, Costa said they “also addressed other aspects related to the institutional framework of European recovery.”

Hours before this meeting, at the Belém Cultural Centre, during a presentation session of the National Commission to Monitor the RRP, the minister of planning, Nelson de Souza, said that, in international terms, the ratification process for the increase in the European Commission’s own resources is meeting the planned timetables.

“At this moment, just over half of the member states have submitted their plans for consideration by Brussels, and 22 out of 27 have ratified the decision for the increase in the European Commission’s own resources. We hope to conclude this process by the end of this month,” he said.

On Friday and Saturday, Portugal is hosting informal meetings of the finance ministers of the euro area (Eurogroup) and the European Union (Ecofin), as part of the Portuguese presidency of the EU, in the presence of central bank governors.

At the Belém Cultural Centre, the logistics centre of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union, there will be representatives such as the vice-president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, the European commissioner for the economy, Paolo Gentiloni, the commissioner for financial stability, Mairead McGuinness, the chief economist of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Laurence Boone, and the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde.