Four public entities leave anti-fraud group for European funds
Four public entities have withdrawn from an anti-fraud think tank focused on European funds, including the Inspectorate-General of Finance and the Prosecutor-General's Office.

Latest news and stories about eu funds in finance in Portugal for expats and residents.
Four public entities have withdrawn from an anti-fraud think tank focused on European funds, including the Inspectorate-General of Finance and the Prosecutor-General's Office.

Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has secured assurances from the European Commission that Portugal will not forfeit Recovery and Resilience Plan funds impacted by recent severe weather, following a request for flexible, ingenious solutions.

The Government has altered the governance model for European funds, removing the statutory right to appeal decisions by fund managing authorities. The change, approved by the Council of Ministers on 9 January but not yet published in the Diário da República, is presented as a simplification intended to make fund administration clearer and more effective. While the amendment may speed up decision-making and reduce administrative burdens, it eliminates a direct procedural remedy for beneficiaries and stakeholders — including SMEs, NGOs and expat nationals — and raises questions about accountability, transparency and conformity with national and EU administrative-law protections. Key issues to monitor are the final text published in the Official Gazette, any alternative oversight or review mechanisms that are put in place (internal review, ombudsman, monitoring committees or judicial review), and the potential for legal or political challenges that could arise if ordinary remedies are perceived as insufficient.

Jorge Veloso, outgoing president of Anafre, said it is a disappointment to end his term without parishes being able to apply for EU community funds as promised by recent governments. He described the continued exclusion of freguesias from those funding streams as constraining local development projects and municipal budgets, and said it raises questions about the implementation and prioritisation of state policy for local government support.
Compete will open five funding calls in January for large companies, accounting for roughly one third of the programme’s corporate allocation under Portugal 2030, the agency’s president told ECO dos Fundos. The calls come with strengthened support rates aimed at accelerating project implementation and unlocking private investment. For large firms, the tranche presents a concentrated opportunity to secure EU-backed grants that could expedite capital expenditure, support job-creating projects and align corporate investment with Portugal 2030 priorities. The measure also signals an administrative push to deploy funds faster, with potential sectoral and regional impacts depending on application uptake and award conditions.

Peter Magyar is expected to travel to Brussels again to conclude a political agreement and assures that the EU is not imposing “conditions contrary to national interests” for the release of funds.

The detainees are two men and one woman, charged with crimes of fraud in obtaining subsidies or grants and criminal association.

Portugal faces the potential risk of reduced EU funding in the upcoming budgetary cycle, which could leave the nation at a competitive disadvantage relative to its European peers.

The proposal was made on Thursday at the start of the European Council taking place in Cyprus, Sánchez himself said on Friday in statements to journalists upon his arrival for the second day of the meeting.

At issue are “alleged irregularities related to EU agricultural subsidies,” states OLAF, which investigates fraud cases that harm the European budget.
The execution rate of Portugal 2030 is nearly 17% (16.8%) as of the end of March. According to the monthly bulletin of the community support framework, 12.32 billion euros have been approved and 3.86 billion executed by March 31st. The Pessoas 2030 programme stands out with the highest execution rate (34.3%), the...

For decades, European funds were the grammar of convergence. They are now becoming something else: an instrument for the geopolitical assertion of the European Union (EU). The defence sector demonstrates this better than any other. Because in this area, it is no longer enough to finance projects, meet deadlines, or announce funding packages. What is at stake is something else...

In a letter addressed to António Costa and Ursula von der Leyen, 33 MEPs state that the progress in the execution rate of the Recovery and Resilience Plans is “far from being fully utilised.”

The 22 measures proposed in the document are based on prior consultation and surveys conducted with intermunicipal entities and metropolitan areas.

The minister says that if negotiations were to close now, Portugal would escape cuts to agriculture in the next community support framework. However, he leaves the future of cohesion open, which risks a cut of more than one-fifth.
Mid-term review of Cohesion Policy secures an additional 34.6 billion euros for projects in the areas of competitiveness, defence, energy transition, water resilience, and housing.

We must always have this focus and this concern. Being at ease is not the right expression. Never. This is how the president of the Agency for Development and Cohesion peremptorily responds when asked if she is at ease with the execution pace of the current community support framework, Portugal 2030, which has more than 4.2 billion...

Luís Montenegro guarantees that Portugal will not lose a single cent of European funds due to the recent severe weather.

The Prime Minister says he received a guarantee from the President of the European Commission that the country will not lose the money for RRF projects that went over budget due to the series of storms.

In Brussels, following the European Council, Luís Montenegro guarantees that Portugal will not lose or return funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan due to delays caused by the storms.

The Public Prosecutor's Office has charged 35 defendants, including a company from Vale de Cambra and its main administrators, in a tax fraud case that allegedly caused 1.6 million euros in losses to the State and the European Union. A statement released on the Porto Regional Attorney General's Office website notes that, by an order dated...

The webpage provides access to the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, managed by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. It offers information on funding opportunities, tenders, and projects within the European Union, including resources relevant to Portugal. Users can explore calls for tenders, funding programs, and data related to EU-funded initiatives, with options to apply for grants, loans, and venture capital. The portal also features support services, APIs, and links to related EU funding resources, facilitating access for Portuguese entities seeking EU financial support.

The chair of the Audit and Control Committee for the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) admitted on Tuesday in parliament that the body will not be able to verify all the milestones and targets in the latest payment requests. “We can't get everywhere. Up to the eighth payment request, we ensured the verification of ...”

The European Public Prosecutor's Office in Portugal carried out searches at 20 locations today and detained one person on suspicion of fraud involving European Union (EU) funds and money laundering linked to the COVID-19 support programme.
Searches were carried out at 20 locations, including private residences and company headquarters.

CAP warns that some small businesses may be at risk after several productions were destroyed. Secretary-general Luís Mira calls for the Government to act swiftly to deploy EU community funds.

The State is reclaiming €41.33 million from Manuel Serrão for European funds paid improperly, an amount that has already been 'returned' to Brussels. “The amounts claimed are already reflected in the expenditures submitted by Portugal to the European Commission,” an official source from the Agency for Development and Cohesion told ECO. This means that in ...

The year began with a new update to the Calls Schedule, which lists funding opportunities for the next 12 months under the Portugal 2030 programmes and the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) programme. “The calls schedule contains information at two different levels of detail, ...

The European Commission has given a positive preliminary opinion on the payment request submitted last November by the Government.

The European Commission has approved the eighth disbursement under Portugal's Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), amounting to €1.1 billion.
