Algarve 2030 is the only program still at risk, despite the reprogramming of the community framework.

Last week, the Secretary of State for Planning and Regional Development, Hélder Reis, held a meeting at the CCDR Algarve with mayors and heads of public entities to ensure everyone's commitment to submitting another ten million euros of European funds for expenditure incurred and paid within the next 15 days.

“According to European Community regulations, to comply with the N+3 rule, the Algarve region must spend €106 million in 2025. Failure to meet this target will result in the region being penalized with the consequent return of unused funds,” explains the CCDR (Regional Coordination and Development Commission) in a note sent to ECO.

In the ECO report on Funds, the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion revealed that although Portugal submitted the reprogramming of Portugal 2030 to Brussels at the end of October, to prevent the country from losing €890 million due to the application of the cut-off rule, one regional program was still at risk – Algarve 2030. This rule obliges states to spend a certain amount every year; otherwise, they must return the unused funds.

“There is only one case left where we are still unsure whether or not we will comply,” said Castro Almeida. “The Algarve regional program has a slight discrepancy between what has been executed and what needs to be executed,” he revealed. “I know that the president of the Coordination Commission is fully aware of the issue. He is working on it every day,” he added.

José Apolinário had already warned about the problem when he was at the ECO dos Fundos in February. “We are taking all initiatives to guarantee the execution of the €106 million that needs to be executed by November 30th of this year,” he said at the time. But this did not prevent him from criticizing the “competition” — “I won’t use other words,” he said — “between the Cohesion Policy and the PRR, which hinders the development of the Cohesion Policy.”

The official also pointed out the fact that the Algarve has two constraints on execution: “the [co-financing] rate of 60% and the map of regional state aid of category ‘c’, which corresponds to the Algarve and Lisbon.” On October 31st, Algarve 2030 had an execution rate of 4.6%, the lowest among regional programs.

In statements to ECO, the day before the meeting with Secretary of State Hélder Reis, José Apolinário also emphasized his concern about the coming year—in 2026, the Algarve will have to execute 130 million euros.

Now, until the end of November, in coordination with the CCDR (Regional Coordination and Development Commission), the AMAL Intermunicipal Community, the municipalities and their technical teams, and the various public entities involved, they will initiate the necessary administrative procedures to meet this goal.